Episode 22 – Richard Roman and their First Assignment
Team Freeman gathers together in Atlantic City to listen to the terms of their employment with billionaire agro-business CEO and philanthropist, Richard Roman. Richard Roman Enterprises has a new product that is about to help stave off world hunger. They are hired to help protect this roll out and do a few discreet ‘off the book ops’ against Richard’s known enemies. The first ‘special assignment’ is most curious.
Background
War has spread from the European Continent to Asia. In Europe, the EU starts using orbit bombardment within 50 miles of the front lines in Europe and slowly pushes east. By August 2051, Warsaw is surrounded and besieged. The city holds out. With Russia occupied in Europe, China opens a second front on them in Asiatic Russia. The Pacific Maritime provinces are overrun but Vladivostok, Lord of the East, remains in Russian hands.
Ghost Team 1 continues to train the new Islamic State of the Fezzan’ National Police under the direction of Warrant Officer Brandon Health. After the scandal in the Fezzan, Allison Cole drops the identity of Hanna Woo and continues her rich and indolent life. Natty is told she will NOT regain command of Ghost Team 1 and will be demoted one rank to 2nd Lieutenant to placate the outrage in the Fezzan over the videos of her and Hanna making out on the beach in Cyprus. The biogen resigns her commission in protest.
Natty is then offered a job by her ‘sister’ Cat to work with Doc Freeman and a new team he is putting together. This Team will being doing a series of jobs for multi-billionaire philanthropist, Richard Roman. Both the Bast Corporation and the Collective are interested in what this man is up to. It is rumored that Richard Roman is about to roll out a product that will end world hunger. This will of course put out of business many major agro-corps.
Richard Roman hires the Team to test the corporate defenses of Richard Roman Enterprises’ various facilities around the world. The Collective is sending two Nietzschean operatives to join this new Team. The first is a freshly trained male warrior, S-0002134.7, who also calls himself Priest. The second is a female operative originally called Sylvania Kelevra. She is a fourth generation warrior introduced in the Super Solo 2 Campaign back in 2027, and is coming as an American Cherokee Indian, Wayah Hyawasee (Wolf in Meadow). For a fixer, Geoff Stark of Atlantic City is recruited. Doc Freeman has known this young man for almost ten years and in that time Geoff has become an influential fixer in the Atlantic City area. Duke Strider is released from the Bast Corporation to work with the Team (and keep an eye on an angry Natty).
Dramatis Personae
Team Freeman
Doc Freeman: Former professor at UNLV, former assistant coroner and world-known cyber researcher. He is the inventor of the “cyberbrain” with which he claims to have cured death itself. Four years ago, the Republic of Mars legalized his cyberbrain for generalized use and he was honored by the Martian Academy of Science. A small number of Earth’s nations followed suit and now courts around the world are looking into ramifications of his work. The man is now rich beyond his wildest dreams. Many religious leaders have roundly condemned his work, which has earned him at least three fatwas calling for his death from major Islamic religious leaders. Many fanatical Christian groups have also called for his execution.
Duke Strider (aka Rex Greenwood): He is an experimental dog/human biogenetic hybrid made by the Collective on commission by the Bast Corporation. The Caitlins, who own Bast Corporation, plan to create male members of their race, but decided to make another species of hybrid first to test the science. Cat has asked him to keep an eye on Natty.
Geoff Stark: A sharp young fixer from Atlantic City first introduced as a 14 year old during the Atlantic City episodes of the Burn Notice Campaign. It was there he met Doc Freeman and infuriated the late Sam Fisher by dating his ‘daughter’, Cat. He is now 24 and a major player supplying Edgerunner teams with their needed gear in addition to running the production, distribution and sale of brain dance pornography in the Atlantic City area.
Natalie ‘Natty’ Lanikova (aka AJ Greenwood): A covert operative who most believe is the daughter of the late Lt. Alina Lanikova formerly of the Czech Special Forces (601st SOG). She is actually one of the prototype Biotechnica ‘Caitlin’ clones trained to operate in the Czech Republic. She resigned her position in the Bast Corporation’s Ghost Teams in protest after being disciplined over her affair with Allison Cole (aka Hanna Woo).
Priest (or S-0002134.7): He is a newly grown and trained fourth generation Nietzschean warrior on his first mission away from the Collective. Priest is a stealth/assassin model, but is being hired as a combat solo for the Team.
Sylvania Kelevra (or N-0038592.6): She is a fourth generation Nietzschean warrior who has spent the past twenty four years guarding the sheep flocks in the high pastures of New Zealand and producing three children of the fifth generation. These duties were the result of her initial disastrous mission back in 2027. (See Super Solo 2 Campaign for details). She is coming as an American Cherokee Indian, Wayah Hyawasee (Wolf in Meadow).
And helping the Team in the NET (against all orders) from afar is Nip Lacey: This slightly crazy young woman is the result of a failed experiment to create a gestalt mind of several netrunners. This project also inadvertently created Fred, a ferret looking creature that inhabits the NET and is fiercely loyal to Nip. While the girl is only 21, she has already earned advanced degrees in Computer Science and Robotics from Night City University. She faces life like a superhero wanting to do the ‘right thing’.
The NPCs
Bruno is one of Doc Freeman’s long time personal bodyguards.
Colonel Miles Quaritch is a retired Special Forces officer who is in charge of Richard Roman’s corporate security force.
Dr. Pasha is one of Doc Freeman’s former #1 assistants who left his employ about seven to eight years ago.
General Nordstrom is a senior Pentagon general who was Leslie Lords’ mentor in the army.
Karen Potter is an attractive young woman with a bubbly personality. She is also Doc Freeman’s dedicated personal assistant.
Julian is Doc Freeman’s personal tech for his biomechanical body.
Lance is the other of Doc Freeman’s long time personal bodyguards.
Leslie Lords is the personal assistant of Richard Roman, billionaire philanthropist and the Team’s new employer.
Richard Roman a former indolent playboy whose recovery from terminal cancer changed his life. He has become a corporate champion of feeding the hungry and helping end world poverty. The man practices what he preaches and runs the largest network of free food banks across the world.
The Action
Monday, January 8, 2052:
The Team gathers at rooms rented for them at the New Borgata Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Everyone recognizes Doc Freeman. Priest introduces himself as a merc along with a young woman of Native American descent, Wayah Hyawasee, who is wearing an expensive armored business suit. A young man and woman with the accents of people from the Canadian Maritime Provinces enter next. Both are casually dressed with a familial look between them. They introduce themselves as cousins Rex and AJ Greenwood. The biogens quickly pick each other out by scent or process of elimination. Doc Freeman introduces the sixth member of the Team, Geoff Stark. The young man is wearing a fashionable but discreetly armored dark suit with a white shirt and no tie. The Jersey fixer locks on to the Canadian cousins as Cat’s people.
After a few brief pleasantries, the six are brought up under guard to the Presidential Suite where they are ushered into the suite’s office. Richard Roman and his personal assistant, Leslie Lords, are waiting for them.
Richard comes to Doc Freeman and greets him enthusiastically, “It’s so good to see you, my old friend. I’m honored that it was you and a team of your people that answered my call.”
“Good to see you doing so well, Richard,” the Doc replies.
Richard introduces his assistant, Leslie Lords. Doc Freeman introduces ‘his’ team.
“Call me Dick,” the philanthropist tells them with a beaming smile. “Everyone does. Would any of you like a drink?”
“That sounds great, Mr. Dick,” Wayah says loudly.
The billionaire’s smile breaks almost imperceptibly as he tells her, “No, it’s just Dick.”
Leslie directs a question at everyone but Doc Freeman. “So, what are your specialties?”
Priest claims (correctly) to be a pistol expert.
Rex calls himself a tracker and general solo.
Wayah says she is “a human threat elimination specialist.”
AJ claims to be a trained bodyguard, but she is also sniper qualified.
All eyes turn to Geoff who pauses before answering, “Comic Relief.”
Richard Roman breaks into laughter and everyone follows suit. The billionaire finally composes himself and tells the young man, “I have heard of you, Mr. Stark, but your friendship with Dr. Freeman would be qualification enough.”
The billionaire philanthropist explained that he is about to unveil a secret project that will end hunger as the world knows it over the next twenty to thirty years. His concern is for corporate security at his facilities. Dick explains there have been recent espionage and assassination attempts. The Team will perform organized security tests at various facilities involved in the new product roll out. Dick adds that he will have ‘other work’ against some of his proven corporate enemies trying to stop his product rollout.
Compensation shall be 30,000 euro per person per month to cover all security test simulation work. The special jobs would pay 100,000 euro (or equivalent in other currency” per ‘job’. All expenses are to be borne by the team. Everyone on Team Freeman agrees to the deal. Dick asked what currency they would like their signing bonus (one month’s pay) in. Leslie Lords delivers small suitcases to each team member with the opening cash payment during Richard Roman’s next speech.
“Well, I’m glad you’re all on board with me,” Dick tells them with an amiable smile. “And I have your first special job for you. There have been two attempts on my life in the past six months. My corporate chief of security, Miles Quaritch, thinks he has tightened up defensive measures, but I’m not so sure. So, I would like you to extract retired Special Forces Colonel Miles Quaritch from inside my corporate headquarters in Sheridan, Wyoming.”
“And then what?” asks Geoff.
“Tell me when you’re ready to grab him and I’ll come. I want him delivered into a chair in front of my desk wearing one of those little black hoods he’s so fond of. Then we will have a talk about the adequacy of his security measures,” the billionaire finished with a glint in his eye.
“Sounds straightforward,” Priest offers.
“Yes, but you must remember,” interrupted Leslie. “Colonel Quaritch must be taken inside the corporate headquarters.”
“Will corporate security know this is a drill?” Rex (Duke) asks.
“Oh, no,” Dick replies breezily. “They will attempt to resist you with lethal force.”
“What if we kill one of your security?” asks AJ (Natty).
“You can kill my men there, after all they will be trying to kill you,” Dick tells them with a smile. “But my headquarters is fully insured against damage. And I can easily hire more men.”
Doc Freeman, Geoff and the two Nietzscheans agree to the terms without reservation. AJ & Rex agree but aren’t so sure about this.
Rex (Duke) says, “You do realize we will need to investigate, gather Intel about the security measures in force? It could easily take as long as a month.”
“A month it is, then,” Dick says with a smile. “And of course I cannot give you any particulars about Colonel Quaritch’s precautions. That would not be a valid test.”
“That will be fine, Dick,” Doc Freeman tells his friend. “I’m confident my Team can gain any information they need.”
Richard Roman and Leslie say good-bye and the Team are brought downstairs to a secure conference room. They run their own security scan over the area for any listening devices. AJ has her deck with her so she takes some of the NET savvy Team members and does some preliminary research on Sheridan, Wyoming.
The town should have died like so many of its small size, but its surviving people believed in their town hung in there and survived. It has returned to its 1940’s population of just over 10,500 people. Besides tourism and nearby attractions such as the Big Horn People’s Forest, the town is enjoying a growth spurt due to the large industrial park that houses the world headquarters of Richard Roman Enterprises. This building is a two story squat stone structure with parking lots and AV pads on the ground, and two more AV pads on the roof. The single building sits at the bottom of a slight bowl. There is no way to take it under surveillance except by moving close (250m from parking lot) and inside the Industrial Park’s general security.
Of the six sites in the industrial park, half have some activity going on. Besides Richard Roman Enterprises, one local company manufactures ball bearings for the US Military, and a Smith & Wesson firearms factory is being built. A centrally located solar collector supplies the power for the entire park. On the company website, the Team learns that Richard Roman Enterprises is hiring entry level clerical / office positions at the Sheridan headquarters.
A plan is quickly formed. Geoff and Natty will become a young couple (Johnny Komanski and Mila Christova) about to get married from New Jersey and looking to start a new life together. Doc Freeman will take his entourage on vacation at the Big Horn People’s Forest (and rich capitalist money fleecing green machine). The doctor introduces his personal staff to the Team. The first a bubbly attractive redhead named Karen Potter who is the doctor’s personal assistant. There is also Julian, the Doc’s personal tech (for his biomechanical body). Bruno and Lance are his bodyguards. It will take them time to get on scene.
Johnny and Mila can’t risk bringing in any kind of communication device. Geoff sets up some bulletin board accounts on some boards that his fictitious identity posts on. Netrunners in his employ place posts going back a few years. He works out a complex substitution cypher with the Team. They arrange to leave each other messages at 7 pm each day during the op.
For now Geoff contacts his shoemaker to order up a full ID with continuous backstopping. After that the fixer goes under the knife of Doc Freeman as he gives the young fixer some small cosmetic changes that will screen Johnny Komanski as not Geoff Stark. Natty contacts the Collective and requests satellite surveillance of Sheridan, Wyoming. They agree, but it will take five days to re-task a satellite. Natty then contacts Nip through one of the back doors in the Bast tactical system that the netrunner has built. The Team decides to find out all there is to know about three men: Colonel Miles Quaritch, Richard Roman and Leslie Lords.
***
Tuesday, January 9, 2052:
The Team begins their preparations for the Miles Quaritch extraction. Doc Freeman leases a couple of RVs, a sedan and a motorcycle for his entourage’s use in Wyoming. Karen Potter gets on making and confirming the Team’s reservations. Nip and Rex (Duke) start work on researching the three principles agreed on yesterday. Johnny and Mila (Geoff and Natty) get an apartment with a backdated lease. They work on backstopping their IDs under the direction of Geoff’s shoemaker. Doc Freeman does a small face job on Johnny to make his look a bit less like Geoff.
***
Wednesday, January 10, 2052:
Johnny and Mila apply online for a job at Richard Roman Enterprises. Their IDs are backstopped to show they are talented and good prospects, but desperate enough to travel to Wyoming for a job. Fortunately the two have most of the necessary skills for the job. The NET geeks continue their research. The rest of the Team gathers the equipment and weaponry they think they will need. Doc Freeman secures everyone corporate weapon permits into the automatic and heavy weapon range.
***
Thursday, January 11, 2052:
Geoff and his people have arranged a small ceremony for today. Johnny and Mila (Geoff and Natty) get (il)legally married with witnesses. A small party follows and some small news blurbs are generated. Later, there is a bit of an awkward silence on their ‘wedding night’.
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” Johnny tells her.
“Why?” Mila asks. “We’re supposed to be newlyweds so we have to be able to ‘sell’ this cover and besides, I’m curious about you.”
“Curious about me?”
“Yes,” Mila says with almost a purr. “Cat said I could trust you.”
“Hmm, she told me the same thing about you and your cousin.”
So the young couple gets to know each other better and the first thing that Mila learns is that Geoffrey Stark, the braindance porn king of Atlantic City, doesn’t know much more about sex than ‘insert tab A into slot B’ (Seduction 0). She promises never to tell anyone if he will take some instruction from her. Mila has one further stipulation; Geoff will do her one future service that will not be in any way against his inclination or interest. The fixer agrees.
Nip and the Team’s NET geeks (Duke with Geoff & Natty earlier) finish researching Leslie Lords:
Leslie’s obituary at the time cites him as being a member of Delta Force and a decorated CIA operative. This report quickly disappeared in most databases. The reports were amended to read that Lords was injured and on life support. He was not expected to wake up. In 2043 Leslie is the first recipient of an experimental treatment for traumatic brain injury. He becomes the first legal recipient of a cyberbrain in the United States. The funds come from Richard Roman whose massive donations to the wounded warrior project financed many life changing procedures for severely injured soldiers and veterans. In 2044 Leslie Lords wakes up unexpectedly and spends two years in rehab. After the rehab stint he officially leaves the military and signs on with Richard Roman as his personal assistant.
The Net has been sanitized concerning Leslie. There are many more dead end information trails that lead to removed or inaccessible web pages than can be coincidental. Leslie met with many high ranking senators last year pitching a reinstitution of government food banks to feed the hungry. The proposal would call for an additional tax on all corporate entities and the top 1% of Americans.
***
Friday, January 12, 2052:
Word comes to newlyweds Johnny and Mila that Richard Roman Enterprises is offering them an interview and asking if they will come to Sheridan all expenses paid. The pair replies, “Yes.”
Nip and the Team’s NET geeks finish their research on the Team’s extraction target:
The man’s career veered from heroism to suspicion of war crimes. Miles faced and beat a very public court martial for unacceptable civilian casualties by forces under his direct command. Soon after, Miles’ unit is decorated by the president after rescuing US and UK citizens that were kidnapped in Africa. A while later, Miles once again faces court martial in 2048. This time he pleads out and retires. Miles is quickly hired as head of security for Roman Enterprises.
The Net has been sanitized concerning Miles. There are many more dead end information trails that lead to removed or inaccessible web pages than can be coincidental. Congress launches an investigation into the conduct of Miles’ former unit. The investigation ends when all the witnesses turn up dead, execution style.
Again Nip pulls out a hidden NET gem before it is ‘sanitized’. Six to seven weeks ago on November 25, 2051 Senator Jason Tremont of Tennessee was shot and killed while stopping at the store on his way home. Grainy security footage is a tentative match to Miles, an investigation is under way. The Senator was pushing to reopen the investigation into Miles and his actions while in the Marine Corp.
Wayah Hyawasee looks up from reading the final report and says, “Quaritch sounds like a total whack job.”
“That’s diagnostically not very accurate, but essentially correct,” Doc Freeman responds.
“Has anyone considered how this psychotic ex-Special Forces killer will feel about working with us after we have just totally humiliated him?” asks Natty.
“His security people could ‘mistakenly’ get issued live ammo during one of the simulated tests; down we go,” Geoff postulates.
“We’ll just have to see how he takes it,” Doc Freeman suggests.
“How are we doing on surveillance?” Priest asks.
“Our friends are moving a satellite into position, now,” Natty tells the Team. “The feed will be available Saturday and everything will be recorded. It will be immediately available to the Doc’s group.”
Everyone is satisfied that things are proceeding well.
***
Saturday, January 13, 2052:
Doc Freeman and his entourage finish packing. They will be ready to leave tomorrow to pick up their newly bought RVs and head to Wyoming’s Big Horn People’s Forest outside Sheridan. There they have secured a luxury cabin that the state socialist government there uses to soak the rich capitalists.
Nip and the Team’s NET geeks plus one (Natty, Doc Freeman, Duke and Geoff) finish research on Richard Roman. They produce a report for the Team:
In February of 2042, Richard was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. The playboy searched for alternative treatments and discovered Dr. Gordon Freeman’s work. He survived only through secret experimental (and questionably illegal) treatment by Doc Freeman and his chief assistant, a Dr. Pasha.
This was a life changing event for Richard Roman. The cancer had been kept from metastasizing to the body, and the cyberbrain easily operated his old body. The playboy became billionaire philanthropist and founder of Richard Roman Enterprises, a rising global agro-corp and largest operator of non-profit food banks worldwide.
Seven years ago, tragedy in the form of a rogue wave struck the family yacht, The Good Life, in the Mediterranean Sea. All of Richard Roman’s family and close friends were killed on December 24, 2044 during a party that was a combined celebration of Richard’s cancer free survival and Christmas. Richard was found injured but clinging to debris after being missing for almost 3 days. As solo heir to the Roman fortune, Richard Roman formed Richard Roman Enterprises to enter the agri-business and address the world hunger problem on January 1, 2045.
Richard has become religious since his near death from cancer. He is now a valued tithe paying Roman Catholic. Richard met with high ranking archbishops and possibly the Pope himself in Rome last year. The fact has been painstakingly concealed. What is more, the Net has been sanitized concerning Richard. There are many more dead end information trails that lead to removed or inaccessible web pages than can be coincidental.
Nip recovered a piece of information when someone activated an old ‘cloud drive’. She was able to find a report on the ‘accidental’ destruction of The Good Life citing damage from a collision. This is mentioned in the last sentence of a news report on the destruction of a Greek naval vessel, at the hand of “terrorists”. This was the ship that found Richard and the debris. This ship was lost two weeks after finding Richard.
“So, you put Richard Roman’s cyberbrain in?” Geoff asks Doc Freeman.
“No, actually Dr. Pasha put it in,” the Doc replies. The stares of the rest of the Team urged him to continue. “At the time my company had the proper clearance for another human cyberbrain trial. But, there was an injunction filed by some wacko religious fanatics. Our lawyers looked at their poorly drafted brief and realized it only applied to me personally. I had Dr. Pasha do the surgery.”
“And where is Dr. Pasha?” Rex (Duke) asks.
“Oh, he left the company almost seven years ago,” Freeman answers. “We’ve lost touch over the years.”
“Did you put Leslie Lords’ cyberbrain in too?” asks Rex.
“Hmm, No,” the Doc replies, “Dr. Pasha put that one in too.”
Newly married Johnny and Mila (Geoff and Natty) look at each other and share their first moment of knowing exactly what the other is thinking, ‘Yup, I just don’t like this Richard Roman.’
***
Sunday, January 14, 2052:
Doc Freeman and his entourage (secretary Karen Potter, tech Julian and bodyguards Bruno and Lance) along with Rex Greenwood (Duke), Priest and Wayah Hyawasee head out to Bighorn People’s Forest. Johnny and Mila continue to build a deeper cover for themselves. They expect the Richard Roman Enterprises vetting process will be very thorough.
Episode 23 – Welcome to Sheridan, Wyoming!
Doc Freeman brings his part of the team to Sheridan, Wyoming a week before Johnny (Geoff) and Mila (Natty) arrive. The set up in a large lodge in the Big Horn People’s Forest and start to visit the many tourist sites in the area. Finally the young newlyweds arrive in Sheridan and secure employment at Richard Roman Enterprises. As the couple settles in, Doc Freeman seems to draw the ire of their extraction target, Colonel Miles Quaritch. The ire quickly grows to threats and Doc Freeman and company flee across the state line to a penthouse at the hotel of the Billings, Montana International Airport.
Johnny and Mila meet a stranger who claims to be no friend of Richard Roman, whom he identifies as an evil murderer responsible for his own family’s death. The young couple begins to entertain serious doubts about their mission.
Background
War has spread from the European Continent to Asia. In Europe, the EU starts using orbit bombardment within 50 miles of the front lines in Europe and slowly pushes east. By August 2051, Warsaw is surrounded and besieged. The city holds out. With Russia occupied in Europe, China opens a second front on them in Asiatic Russia. The Pacific Maritime provinces are overrun but Vladivostok, Lord of the East, remains in Russian hands.
Ghost Team 1 continues to train the new Islamic State of the Fezzan’ National Police under the direction of Warrant Officer Brandon Health. After the scandal in the Fezzan, Allison Cole drops the identity of Hanna Woo and continues her rich and indolent life. Natty is told she will NOT regain command of Ghost Team 1 and will be demoted one rank to 2nd Lieutenant to placate the outrage in the Fezzan over the videos of her and Hanna making out on the beach in Cyprus. The biogen resigns her commission in protest.
Natty is then offered a job by her ‘sister’ Cat to work with Doc Freeman and a new team he is putting together. This Team will being doing a series of jobs for multi-billionaire philanthropist, Richard Roman. Both the Bast Corporation and the Collective are interested in what this man is up to. It is rumored that Richard Roman is about to roll out a product that will end world hunger. This will of course put out of business many major agro-corps.
Richard Roman hires the Team to test the corporate defenses of Richard Roman Enterprises’ various facilities around the world. The Collective is sending two Nietzschean operatives to join this new Team. The first is a freshly trained male warrior, S-0002134.7, who also calls himself Priest. The second is a female operative originally called Sylvania Kelevra. She is a fourth generation warrior introduced in the Super Solo 2 Campaign back in 2027, and is coming as an American Cherokee Indian, Wayah Hyawasee (Wolf in Meadow). For a fixer, Geoff Stark of Atlantic City is recruited. Doc Freeman has known this young man for almost ten years and in that time Geoff has become an influential fixer in the Atlantic City area. Duke Strider is released from the Bast Corporation to work with the Team (and keep an eye on an angry Natty).
Dramatis Personae
Team Freeman
Doc Freeman: Former professor at UNLV, former assistant coroner and world-known cyber researcher. He is the inventor of the “cyberbrain” with which he claims to have cured death itself. Four years ago, the Republic of Mars legalized his cyberbrain for generalized use and he was honored by the Martian Academy of Science. A small number of Earth’s nations followed suit and now courts around the world are looking into ramifications of his work. The man is now rich beyond his wildest dreams. Many religious leaders have roundly condemned his work, which has earned him at least three fatwas calling for his death from major Islamic religious leaders. Many fanatical Christian groups have also called for his execution.
Duke Strider (aka Rex Greenwood): He is an experimental dog/human biogenetic hybrid made by the Collective on commission by the Bast Corporation. The Caitlins, who own Bast Corporation, plan to create male members of their race, but decided to make another species of hybrid first to test the science. Cat has asked him to keep an eye on Natty.
Geoff Stark: A sharp young fixer from Atlantic City first introduced as a 14 year old during the Atlantic City episodes of the Burn Notice Campaign. It was there he met Doc Freeman and infuriated the late Sam Fisher by dating his ‘daughter’, Cat. He is now 24 and a major player supplying Edgerunner teams with their needed gear in addition to running the production, distribution and sale of brain dance pornography in the Atlantic City area.
Natalie ‘Natty’ Lanikova (aka AJ Greenwood): A covert operative who most believe is the daughter of the late Lt. Alina Lanikova formerly of the Czech Special Forces (601st SOG). She is actually one of the prototype Biotechnica ‘Caitlin’ clones trained to operate in the Czech Republic. She resigned her position in the Bast Corporation’s Ghost Teams in protest after being disciplined over her affair with Allison Cole (aka Hanna Woo).
Priest (or S-0002134.7): He is a newly grown and trained fourth generation Nietzschean warrior on his first mission away from the Collective. Priest is a stealth/assassin model, but is being hired as a combat solo for the Team.
Sylvania Kelevra (or N-0038592.6): She is a fourth generation Nietzschean warrior who has spent the past twenty four years guarding the sheep flocks in the high pastures of New Zealand and producing three children of the fifth generation. These duties were the result of her initial disastrous mission back in 2027. (See Super Solo 2 Campaign for details). She is coming as an American Cherokee Indian, Wayah Hyawasee (Wolf in Meadow).
And helping the Team in the NET (against all orders) from afar is Nip Lacey: This slightly crazy young woman is the result of a failed experiment to create a gestalt mind of several netrunners. This project also inadvertently created Fred, a ferret looking creature that inhabits the NET and is fiercely loyal to Nip. While the girl is only 21, she has already earned advanced degrees in Computer Science and Robotics from Night City University. She faces life like a superhero wanting to do the ‘right thing’.
The NPCs
Bob, the cabbie, is a taxi driver from Sheridan, Wyoming.
Bruno is one of Doc Freeman’s long time personal bodyguards.
Colonel Miles Quaritch is a retired Special Forces officer who is in charge of Richard Roman’s corporate security force.
Dean Sorris is a mysterious man with disturbing information about Richard Roman that may or may not be true.
Dr. Arabella Pasha is one of Doc Freeman’s former #1 assistants who left his employ about seven to eight years ago.
Karen Potter is an attractive young woman with a bubbly personality. She is also Doc Freeman’s dedicated personal assistant.
Julian is Doc Freeman’s personal tech for his biomechanical body.
Lance is the other of Doc Freeman’s long time personal bodyguards.
Larry, the security guard, works at Richard Roman Enterprises. Johnny and Mila make his acquaintance.
Mary Winsted is a woman in her 50’s that works for Human Resources at Richard Roman Enterprises headquarters in Sheridan, Wyoming.
Pomfret Church is a security official at Richard Roman Enterprises in Sheridan, Wyoming.
Raymond Roman was the late younger brother of Richard Roman. Raymond was killed in the accidental sinking of the Roman family yacht, the Good Life.
Richard Roman a former indolent playboy whose recovery from terminal cancer changed his life. He has become a corporate champion of feeding the hungry and helping end world poverty. The man practices what he preaches and runs the largest network of free food banks across the world.
The Action
Monday, January 15, 2052:
Doc Freeman, Wayah, Priest, Rex and the Doc’s four closest assistants arrive at the small Sheridan, WY airport. Their two RVs, one 4 wheeled SUV, and a motorcycle are waiting for them. The team drives right to the Big Horn People’s Forest. They check into their large cabin, which they chose because of its isolated position. Priest finds a security system and disables it. Fifteen minutes later the campground security calls about it. A Sheridan County Deputy Sheriff comes by and checks on the Team. He is correct and non-threatening. Rex notices something written in small letters on the bottom of the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Department shield. It reads: ‘A Division of Richard Roman Enterprises.’ The cops come by twice more that day and don’t seem to pay the Team any mind.
Johnny and Mila (Geoff and Natty) receive two tickets to Sheridan, Wyoming and a reservation at one of the better hotels in that town. They will be leaving this coming Sunday and have an interview on Monday, January 22.
***
Tuesday, January 16 thru Saturday, January 20, 2052:
Doc Freeman and his entourage do the tourist thing for the next five days. They visit many of the touristy sites in the area, also collecting local maps and newspapers. Rex finds two paintball fields in the area, but no one is really motivated. Priest thinks he might have seen a shadow now and then in the nearby woods that shouldn’t be there, but there is no evidence that someone was there. During this period, the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Department drives by three times each day at random times, but doesn’t seem to pay them any mind.
The team in Wyoming also monitors the satellite surveillance whose data shows that their target, Miles Quaritch, never takes the same vehicle or route to and from work on consecutive days. It’s almost as if he rolls a die to decide which of two armored cars or an AV to take—and which route he follows through town or the air. Miles even comes and goes at different times of day and different days of the week.
As for security coverage, surveillance reveals there are always at least two teams of five security staff people active at the headquarters building at any one time. At shift changes, the teams overlap. Also, each team of five gathers in full before entering the building. The security coverage is 24/7.
Johnny and Mila are out and about setting up their backstory. They are now completely undercover. They both submit to ‘programmed’ braindance that reinforces their belief in their cover stories. Johnny hasn’t seen this type of programming before but he eagerly learns it.
***
Sunday, January 21, 2052:
Team Freeman enjoys another day in the beautiful Big Horn People’s Forest as they monitor the satellite surveillance. Johnny and Mila Komanski fly into Sheridan, WY. They have dinner at the hotel and work on being ready for tomorrow’s job interviews.
***
Monday, January 22, 2052:
Team Freeman checks out the battlefield of the Little Big Horn while doing their tourist thing. More than one team member hopes their fate will not be that of General Custer. For Johnny and Mila they have their interview in the morning. A cab comes to pick them up and drive them to the corporate headquarters. The cabbie introduces himself as Bob and asks, “Where you two from?”
“Jersey,” the pair replies in unison.
The conversation is light and pleasant. The cab enters the industrial park. There is one small wooden guardhouse at the entrance with a flimsy wooden barrier across the road. The cab is waved right on through and soon approaches the large, squat two story concrete construction. As the two get out and approach the building, they notice that the windows on the building aren’t real. It is truly a fortress. Inside, they pass through hidden scan ways, but Mila’s Collective cyberware isn’t detected.
One of the two guards at the entry desk is friendly, and the pair learns that his name is Larry. The newlyweds are required to place all their electronic devices (including phones and watches) into a bag which is zipped and locked and placed into a cubbyhole behind the security counter. Larry gives them the key to take with them. It’s clear that this is done with everyone—including employees—who enter the building.
The two fill out some paperwork and are led down a hallway with efficiently-placed camera bubbles, and go past the cafeteria. Along this route, they notice a security patrol taking the stairs to the second floor. This patrol wears hard armor and sports a 12mm weapon at the hip, and includes a cyber-dog. Natty notices that all are Sheriff Department deputies.
When the pair reaches the interview room, they meet a woman who looks in her 50’s. She introduces herself as Mary Winsted. The young couple has pleasant interviews and is asked to take a battery of aptitude tests. This takes most of the day. The two have to wait for about fifty minutes when they are finished before Mary Winsted comes out to talk with them.
“Congratulations,” the older woman begins. “You both did very well on your tests. We’d like to have you come back tomorrow for a security check and medical screening.”
Johnny and Mila happily agree. The company calls them a taxi and soon Bob pulls up to the front door to take them back to the hotel. The young married couple has dinner at the hotel before Johnny gets to his blogging to signal Team Freeman that all is going well. Rex ‘blogs’ a message back that Team Freeman has been doing their tourist bit. After that the pair retires to their bed to discuss their plans as they noisily have sex for a while. Johnny notices that Mila is very enthusiastic about this part of their ‘cover’; not that he minds.
***
Tuesday, January 23, 2052:
Johnny and Mila head into Richard Roman Enterprises for their security check and medical exam. Mila has the most to worry about, but the DNA gum from the Collective’s labs give her a 99% chance of providing the DNA signature of her false ID from a cheek swab (instead of her own DNA) for the first few hours after chewing it. The Collective’s programmable fingerprints have a small blood sac for a finger prick DNA test. The veins visible on the inside of her elbow are not attached to the bloodstream, but to a blood reservoir under the skin. Johnny is fine as his DNA has been temporarily gonked and will read as Johnny Komanski.
The pair is led to the interview room by Larry, the security guard. A gentleman comes in to do the interview. He stops short when confronted by two subjects and angrily questions Larry why the two haven’t been separated.
“They told me to bring the two of them in together,” Larry explains. “They’re married so HR thought this would be easier.”
This doesn’t go over well with the interviewer.
“Have we done something wrong?” asks Johnny.
The interviewer relaxes a bit and responds, “No, you and your wife are fine. You were supposed to be sent in separately, but I can interview you together.”
This man introduces himself as Pomfret Church, a security official of Richard Roman Enterprises. He conducts a thorough interview, but having two subjects throws him off his game a little. The two prospective employees are given polygraph tests which they pass due to the amount of time they spent working on their backstories, the ‘braindance’ reinforcement they were subjected to (and a large expenditure of LUCK). Mr. Church passes them through for the medical exam.
These exams are given separately. Mila looks at the name tag of the attending doctor. It reads Dr. Arabella Pasha, DO. That name sounds familiar to her. Somehow it is connected to Dr. Gordon Freeman, but she can’t remember exactly how. The doctor draws blood from her arm and draws it from her hidden blood reservoir. After the medical tests, Bob the cabbie picks the two up and drives them back to the hotel.
Bob asks, “How did it go in there?”
“Good, I think,” Johnny tells him.
“That’s great,” Bob replies. “Sometimes the interviewees come running out of the building crying hysterically, but not very often.”
“What happened to them?” Mila asks.
“Don’t know,” the cabbie says as he shrugs his shoulders. “None of them ever want to talk about it. They just want to get the airport and out of here.”
That night Johnny and Mila go out for dinner and drinks in Sheridan. As they are waiting for their meal they realize that most of the people in this bar/restaurant work for Richard Roman Enterprises security. The couple’s presence is noticed, but they are not harassed.
(GM Note: The pair learns later that most others in town don’t come here unless they work security for the company or local police.)
The young couple overhears a lot of mundane conversation, but one exchange gets their attention. One of the security officers complains that he has been pulled off his normal detail to do surveillance on some lodge in the Big Horn People’s Forest. That evening Johnny puts this coded piece of information in his ‘blog’.
In the morning at the lodge out in the Big Horn Forest, Priest, Rex and Bruno head into Sheridan to buy some more food. As they are coming out of the market, the three are detained by two Sheridan County Deputy Sheriffs. The officers are non-threatening, but this appears to be more than just a standard questioning. The three’s weapons permits are checked thoroughly and they have to wait for a real time confirmation of their validity. The officers are very interested in when Doc Freeman’s Team is leaving the area. The three reply that they haven’t been informed of the departure date yet.
When the three return to the lodge, they inform the others about what happened. Doc Freeman cancels the rest of the day’s ‘tourist’ activities. Rex encodes a message in his blog to the undercover pair tells them of the increased pressure of their group from the local police. Johnny’s return message about the pair’s overheard conversation that evening inspires Priest to go out and check the perimeter that night. As he surveys the outside area, something about the edge of the nearby woods ‘doesn’t seem right’.
Wayah slides out the back door and helps Priest with his search of that area. The two find nothing but notice that all the natural sounds of the forest have stopped. It is eerily silent. First Priest returns openly to the lodge. About ten minutes later Wayah comes in stealthily. As soon as she is inside, the ambient natural sounds of the forest start up again.
***
Wednesday, January 24, 2052:
Johnny and Mila are notified that they are hired and asked if they can start immediately. The two say they have everything they need except a palette of personal things already packed in New Jersey. The company agrees to move it out (it will take a month). The two spend a number of hours filling out paperwork. Bob, the cabbie picks them up and drives them from the hotel to their new home in employee housing. It is their own two bedroom house, which is inside one of three gated communities here. Bob explains that one is for security personnel, another for corporate executives, and this one, the third, is for the other employees. A company city car will be delivered tomorrow.
Bob takes the young couple around and shows them where the stores are. After picking up some new work clothes and food for the house, the pair heads to a new restaurant to celebrate their hiring. The customers here have an air of Corporates. The newlyweds overhear snippets of conversations about corporate politics, crop yields, free food clinics and long term goals of Richard Roman Enterprises. A couple of the patrons are clearly security people.
At the Big Horn, Priest is doing his morning perimeter patrol and notices marks from climbing gear on a tree. Further investigation reveals a parabolic microphone high in the tree and pointing at the lodge. Doc Freeman’s team makes a full detailed security sweep for more listening/recording devices. Priest constructs a trip wire can device. It’s low tech but can do the trick. Priest’s evening patrol finds the fresh footprint of what they think might be a Blackjack or something similar. Doc Freeman paints up a quick sign for the entrance to his lodge area: “Attention religious nut-bag assassins, approach again at your own peril!’
While reviewing today’s satellite surveillance, the Team also notices the presence of two additional security teams at Richard Roman Enterprises.
***
Thursday, January 25, 2052:
Priest thinks he sees the shadow of a drone flying over Doc Freeman’s lodge’s lawn. Johnny and Mila go to work. When they see Larry the security guard, he is in armor. Johnny tells him, “Hey, Larry, that armor looks slimming on you.”
Larry doesn’t seem amused and tells the two, “Someone is waiting for you in the interview room.”
Johnny and Mila come around the corner by the interview room where another man in full hard shell armor with an assault rifle is waiting. The young newlyweds enter the interview room where Col. Miles Quaritch and Pomfret Church are waiting. There is plastic over the floors and furniture.
“Sit,” says Pomfret Church and the young couple does.
“It’s all over for you two,” Miles tells them. “We know who you are and that you’re working with Doc Freeman.”
Mila looks dumbfounded. Johnny asks, “What?”
“You’re both from Atlantic City,” Miles accuses.
“But we’re from Northfield,” Mila protests. Her pathetic protest is lost in Miles’ furious accusations.
“We’ve never met this Doc Freeman,” Johnny explains. “We’ve heard of him. He’s some kind of Dr. Mengele?”
There are a couple more attempts to break Johnny and Mila’s story but the two hold up. Johnny’s explanations are outstanding.
“All right, we believe you,” Miles tells them as he turns and leaves.
Pomfret Church smiles and says, “Congratulations, that was the final security test. We’re very sorry, but everyone goes through this. Now, this test is covered under your confidentiality agreement so you can never talk about it with others. Look, why don’t you two take the rest of the day off and you can start tomorrow.” The two new hires head home to their new house.
That afternoon, an AV lands at Doc Freeman’s lodge. Out steps Colonel Miles Quaritch. Only Wayah comes out to talk with him. The security chief wants Doc Freeman and his people to leave now. Wayah’s response is polite but firm, no! The furious, retired government killer considers killing Wayah for a second, but eventually turns and leaves on his AV.
(GM Note: During this encounter, some of the players not involved in the encounter sat there biting their tongues. After Miles left they blurted out, “Why didn’t you just grab him then and there?” Both Doc Freeman and Rex explained that “capturing him outside corporate headquarters would not meet Richard Roman’s requirements for the job.” The other players’ rejoinder was, “We could say we tricked him into coming to us.” An interesting point of view, but not one that became relevant since Miles was allowed to fly away. Also, Miles had eight heavily armed and armored troops waiting in the AV.)
That evening at 7 pm, a Sheriff’s Department SUV parks nearby Team Freeman’s cabin, along with two other sheriff vehicles with 50 caliber assault weapons mounted on top. The deputies are in hard armor, watching the cabin.
That night Johnny and Mila find a piece of paper wrapped around a rock. It looks like some kind of historical code has been written on it. Mila finds the code familiar. Johnny transmits a report on their day. Rex informs the young couple of the increasing hostility of Sheridan County Sheriff’s Department. Mila cooks dinner, Johnny reports to Doc Freeman and then the young couple gets on with Johnny’s Seduction instruction.>
***
Friday, January 26, 2052:
Johnny and Mila go to work in the morning. Mila starts to try and copy some of the data stream on her internal hard drive. After work Johnny and Mila go to the market. When they get home Mila sees a folded piece of paper amongst their groceries. It is in a code. The same one she saw yesterday. Mila puzzles it out. It is the Japanese code broken just before the Battle of Midway. It says, “If you want to know about Richard Roman come to 44° 48′ 20″ N / 108° 37′ 12″ W this Saturday at noon.
Team Freeman stays close to camp. A hostile Wyoming news media comes to Big Horn to interview Doc Freeman. Why is a man of his stature hiding out in the woods of Wyoming? The location of Doc Freeman is all over the news that evening. The country sheriff’s cars pull out of the area.
***
Saturday, January 27, 2052:
Priest and Wayah head back into Sheridan to get more supplies. As they drive by the Campsites’ security booth they notice it is now empty. In fact the two sheriff’s department cars that have been ‘watching’ their lodge are also gone along with the few other guests in the surrounding cabins. The two rush back to their lodge with the news. That isn’t the only ‘news’. That fact that Doc Freeman is vacationing (with a small security staff) in the Big Horn People’s Forest seems to be international news.
“Great,” Doc Freeman sighs. “Now the crazies will be descending on us.”
“Someone has rung the dinner bell on you, Doc,” offers Wayah.
“We need to get out of here, right now,” says Priest.
Karen Potter gets right on line and gets them the penthouse at the Billings Airport Hotel about one hundred miles away in Montana. Within the hour, Bruno, Lance, Julian and the two Nietzscheans have the campers packed. Team Freeman tucks its tail between its legs and is on the move.
“What about my cousin AJ and Geoff?” asks Rex.
“We’ll contact them tonight through the ‘blog’ drop and tell them,” the Doc suggests.
Meanwhile Johnny and Mila head off with a ‘picnic’ into the country. They buy a Data Tel Navistar in town so they won’t get lost ‘camping’ and head out to the coordinates they received yesterday. When they get to the location a man steps out of the brush and says, “I was hoping one of you would figure out the code.”
“Who are you?” Johnny asks.
“The real question is, who are you?” the stranger replies. “More importantly, are you friends of Richard Roman?”
Johnny and Mila look at each other. That is a tough question. Neither of them like Richard Roman, but that isn’t the question. Mila (Natty) answers, “No, we’re not.”
The stranger smiles; apparently that was the right answer. The man introduces himself. “My name is Dean Sorris. Richard Roman is an evil murdering son of a bitch that is plotting something. His plan to feed the world’s poor with his new food supplement is bullshit. I’m not sure exactly what he is up to but it’s no good, whatever it is.”
“How do you know this?” asks Johnny.
“I was formerly employed as the personal bodyguard of Raymond Roman, Richard’s brother. I was on the family yacht, the Good Life, when it was sunk by a submarine and the family slaughtered. All except for Richard of course, who arranged the whole thing.”
“There were no other survivors,” Mila says.
“I survived among the wreckage,” Dean continues. “I was rescued, but it was a couple weeks before I heard the story of Richard’s ‘amazing’ survival.”
“Why haven’t you come forward?” asks Johnny,
“I tried,” Dean explains. “I talked to a US government official and a couple of Medias I knew. All three were dead within 24 hours. Pardon me if I’m a little cautious.”
“So, what is going on at Richard Roman Enterprises?” Mila asks.
“If you want to know what’s going on, ask Pomfret Church,” Dean tells them.
“Why are you telling us this?” inquires Johnny.
“We watch Richard Roman’s operations,” Sorris says. “I had a feeling about you two. We need allies.”
Johnny and Mila look at each other and silently agree to open up a bit. “We are part of a larger team, we could help each other,” Johnny tells him.
“Perhaps,” Dean replies. “We have something going on now. We’ll need a little ‘good faith’ on your part before I feel comfortable about revealing more.”
“How can we contact you again?” Mila asks.
Dean gives them a phone number that they can use and ads, “This number is only good once.”
The three part company. Johnny and Mila have their picnic. Mila comes up with an ‘exhausting’ desert. That evening the couple returns home and sends a report to Team Freeman. They also learn that their companions have fled and left them with no support, no better communications and taken the two’s gear that they were supposed to deliver. Johnny sums up their situation in two words, “We’re screwed!”
***
Sunday, January 28, 2052:
Doc Freeman and his entourage hunker down in their airport hotel penthouse in Billings, Montana. They are curious about Dean Sorris so a couple of Team members do a little research on him. They learn he was ex-military (8 years as US Cavalry Scout) and the bodyguard of Raymond Roman. Dean was reported killed in the sinking of the Good Life, but his body was not recovered. Little more is available on him through the Net.
Johnny and Mila go to the neighbor’s cook-out. The pair gets to know their fellow workers and neighbors. It appears to be (and truly is) a happy corporate community.
***
Monday, January 29, 2052:
Doc Freeman and his entourage continue to hunker down in their airport hotel penthouse in Billings, Montana. At 11 am, they learn that Doc Freeman’s company is experiencing a cyber-attack.
Johnny and Mila go to work in the morning and get back to the grind of their low level positions. The Team wonders what will be next. They won’t have to wait long.
Episode 24 – Room Service!
Doc Freeman gets a call that his research facility near Atlantic City is undergoing a massive determined cyber-attack. If that’s not bad enough, just after he hangs up the phone, a sweeper team comes to ‘clean’ him. The Doc flees back to Atlantic City. The Team keeps a low profile presence in Billings. They also report to Richard Roman that security chief, Miles Quaritch’s extraction protocols are excellent. Richard Roman is pleased and has another job for the Team. It’s those ever troublesome boosters.
Background
War has spread from the European Continent to Asia. In Europe, the EU starts using orbit bombardment within 50 miles of the front lines in Europe and slowly pushes east. By August 2051, Warsaw is surrounded and besieged. The city holds out. With Russia occupied in Europe, China opens a second front on them in Asiatic Russia. The Pacific Maritime provinces are overrun but Vladivostok, Lord of the East, remains in Russian hands.
Ghost Team 1 continues to train the new Islamic State of the Fezzan’ National Police under the direction of Warrant Officer Brandon Health. After the scandal in the Fezzan, Allison Cole drops the identity of Hanna Woo and continues her rich and indolent life. Natty is told she will NOT regain command of Ghost Team 1 and will be demoted one rank to 2nd Lieutenant to placate the outrage in the Fezzan over the videos of her and Hanna making out on the beach in Cyprus. The biogen resigns her commission in protest.
Natty is then offered a job by her ‘sister’ Cat to work with Doc Freeman and a new team he is putting together. This Team will being doing a series of jobs for multi-billionaire philanthropist, Richard Roman. Both the Bast Corporation and the Collective are interested in what this man is up to. It is rumored that Richard Roman is about to roll out a product that will end world hunger. This will of course put out of business many major agro-corps.
Richard Roman hires the Team to test the corporate defenses of Richard Roman Enterprises’ various facilities around the world. The Collective is sending two Nietzschean operatives to join this new Team. The first is a freshly trained male warrior, S-0002134.7, who also calls himself Priest. The second is a female operative originally called Sylvania Kelevra. She is a fourth generation warrior introduced in the Super Solo 2 Campaign back in 2027, and is coming as an American Cherokee Indian, Wayah Hyawasee (Wolf in Meadow). For a fixer, Geoff Stark of Atlantic City is recruited. Doc Freeman has known this young man for almost ten years and in that time Geoff has become an influential fixer in the Atlantic City area. Duke Strider is released from the Bast Corporation to work with the Team (and keep an eye on an angry Natty).
Dramatis Personae
Team Freeman
Doc Freeman: Former professor at UNLV, former assistant coroner and world-known cyber researcher. He is the inventor of the “cyberbrain” with which he claims to have cured death itself. Four years ago, the Republic of Mars legalized his cyberbrain for generalized use and he was honored by the Martian Academy of Science. A small number of Earth’s nations followed suit and now courts around the world are looking into ramifications of his work. The man is now rich beyond his wildest dreams. Many religious leaders have roundly condemned his work, which has earned him at least three fatwas calling for his death from major Islamic religious leaders. Many fanatical Christian groups have also called for his execution.
Duke Strider (aka Rex Greenwood): He is an experimental dog/human biogenetic hybrid made by the Collective on commission by the Bast Corporation. The Caitlins, who own Bast Corporation, plan to create male members of their race, but decided to make another species of hybrid first to test the science. Cat has asked him to keep an eye on Natty.
Geoff Stark: A sharp young fixer from Atlantic City first introduced as a 14 year old during the Atlantic City episodes of the Burn Notice Campaign. It was there he met Doc Freeman and infuriated the late Sam Fisher by dating his ‘daughter’, Cat. He is now 24 and a major player supplying Edgerunner teams with their needed gear in addition to running the production, distribution and sale of brain dance pornography in the Atlantic City area.
Natalie ‘Natty’ Lanikova (aka AJ Greenwood): A covert operative who most believe is the daughter of the late Lt. Alina Lanikova formerly of the Czech Special Forces (601st SOG). She is actually one of the prototype Biotechnica ‘Caitlin’ clones trained to operate in the Czech Republic. She resigned her position in the Bast Corporation’s Ghost Teams in protest after being disciplined over her affair with Allison Cole (aka Hanna Woo).
Priest (or S-0002134.7): He is a newly grown and trained fourth generation Nietzschean warrior on his first mission away from the Collective. Priest is a stealth/assassin model, but is being hired as a combat solo for the Team.
Sylvania Kelevra (or N-0038592.6): She is a fourth generation Nietzschean warrior who has spent the past twenty four years guarding the sheep flocks in the high pastures of New Zealand and producing three children of the fifth generation. These duties were the result of her initial disastrous mission back in 2027. (See Super Solo 2 Campaign for details). She is coming as an American Cherokee Indian, Wayah Hyawasee (Wolf in Meadow).
And helping the Team in the NET (against all orders) from afar is Nip Lacey: This slightly crazy young woman is the result of a failed experiment to create a gestalt mind of several netrunners. This project also inadvertently created Fred, a ferret looking creature that inhabits the NET and is fiercely loyal to Nip. While the girl is only 21, she has already earned advanced degrees in Computer Science and Robotics from Night City University. She faces life like a superhero wanting to do the ‘right thing’.
The NPCs
Bruno is one of Doc Freeman’s long time personal bodyguards.
Charli is the new delivery assistant for Dean Sorris and his ‘food’ deliveries to Richard Roman’s headquarters.
Colonel Miles Quaritch is a retired Special Forces officer who is in charge of Richard Roman’s corporate security force.
Dean Sorris is a mysterious man with disturbing information about Richard Roman that may or may not be true.
Dr. Arabella Pasha is one of Doc Freeman’s former #1 assistants who left his employ about seven to eight years ago.
Karen Potter is an attractive young woman with a bubbly personality. She is also Doc Freeman’s dedicated personal assistant.
Julian is Doc Freeman’s personal tech for his biomechanical body.
Lance is the other of Doc Freeman’s long time personal bodyguards.
Larry, the security guard, works at Richard Roman Enterprises. Johnny and Mila make his acquaintance.
Leslie Lords is the personal assistant of Richard Roman, billionaire philanthropist and the Team’s new employer.
Pomfret Church is a security official at Richard Roman Enterprises in Sheridan, Wyoming.
Richard Roman a former indolent playboy whose recovery from terminal cancer changed his life. He has become a corporate champion of feeding the hungry and helping end world poverty. The man practices what he preaches and runs the largest network of free food banks across the world.
The Action
Monday, January 29, 2052:
In Sheridan, Wyoming, it is a normal first day of the week. Johnny and Mila go to work.
In Billings that morning just after 11 am, the Team feels a concussion and hears an explosion very close. After a brief discussion, Wayah gets up and looks out the penthouse door. A man in hard shell armor is coming down the stairs from a smoking AV pad. She slams the door and announces that they are under attack; “Heavily armored man coming down from the roof!”
The comms are jammed, but everyone can hear each other. Both Nietzscheans hit their adrenal pumps. Wayah gets behind the couch with her handgun at ready. Priest is also covering the entry hall with her having just jacked into his 14.5mm borg assault rifle. Doc Freeman runs to his bedroom and readies his 30mm Essence. Rex (Duke) readies his 8mm H&K assault rifle and takes cover at the door of bedroom 3. There he can two of the three exterior windows on one side of the apartment as well as the living room. Lance and Bruno have herded Karen Potter and Julian to the kitchen where they can protect them.
Priest hears some fiddling at the front door stop; he calls out, “Breeching front door!”
The front door explodes off the hinges.
There is no rush at first. Then the Team hears something small and mechanical. A reconnaissance drone comes in to map the room and their positions. It tries to move into the living room, where Doc Freeman fires his 30mm ET Essence at the larger of the two drones. The device is destroyed as the projectile fires through the rest of the floor’s interior and struck a tower of the hotel. Priest pops the smaller drone with his 14.5mm. The first drone definitely saw Wayah’s ambush position. Rex tells her to fall back and cover the last window Rex can’t see. Wayah moves to do it, but continues on to the relative safety of the kitchen. No one knows she’s out of position. It is quiet for almost a minute. Priest crouches down. Police sirens can be heard in the distance.
The assault comes all at once. An armored attacker comes thru each of the four windows in the penthouse. Rex cuts down the two he can see. The operator who crashes through Doc Freeman’s window is blown right back out and down by the blast of his Essence. The wall where Priest just crouched down and shifted position explodes with a focused charge right where Priest’s head used to be. The attacker who came through the window unopposed comes up behind Rex and shoots him; 31 damage gets through. Rex turns and fires getting a few hits. Bruno then takes out this assailant.
Following a short pause in the attack, three grenades are thrown, one into each bedroom. Doc Freeman exits his bedroom. Four men rush the front door. Priest guns two right down. Rex comes around the corner and takes out the third. The fourth turns and runs. The team doesn’t follow and waits for the police to arrive. Karen Potter is right back to work.
“What are you doing?” asks the Doc.
“We’re going to need a new hotel and AV,” she replies. “I thought I would take care of that now before the news crews arrive and no one will rent us anything.”
The police come, start taking endless reports and collecting ‘evidence’. It is hours before the Team is released with all their gear. After a security sweep, the group has a meeting.
“I’m heading back to Atlantic City,” Doc Freeman announces. “A sophisticated cyberattack coordinated with this hit team means someone with means and deep pockets is very upset at me. I have a lot of enemies and need to regroup.”
“We need to stay here,” Rex says. “We have two people deep under cover at Richard Roman Enterprises.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Priest tells him. “The mission is here, not back in Atlantic City.”
“We have enough people to be in both places,” Wayah points out.
The Team decides that Doc Freeman’s people will rent a good-sized property in Billings through some shell corporations. Priest, Rex and Wayah will remain in town at the house in disguise. They will set it up for further operations. Doc and his entourage will head back to Atlantic City. The rest of the team hopes to talk him out of it.
***
Tuesday, January 30, 2052:
Doc Freeman is insistent on returning to Atlantic City. Yesterday’s assassination attempt was obviously coordinated with the cyber-attack on the main frame at Freeman’s Atlantic City (Pleasantville) facility. Doc’s people succeed in renting a large house under a shell corporation in Billings for the Team to operate in and set up a protected VR conference room on the NET for the Team to meet at. They also rent an AV-4 and a ground car for Rex, Wayah and Priest who will be remaining in Billings.
While going over the information that the Team has collected, Doc Freeman runs across the name of Dr. Arabella Pasha. This doctor was formerly one of Doc Freeman’s research assistants. It was Dr. Pasha who installed Richard Roman’s cyberbrain. She left to work for Richard Roman soon after that. The ‘coincidences’ are piling up.
In Sheridan, WY, it is just another ‘day at the office’ for Johnny and Mila (Geoff and Natty). Around 11 am, the two are in the break room when a shipment of food arrives for the cafeteria at Richard Roman’s headquarters. Both Johnny and Mila notice that a disguised Dean Sorris is one of the two delivery men. As the pair listen, it is clear that Dean and the security guard, Larry, are on friendly terms. Finally Dean asks, “Hey, can my assistant here use the men’s room?”
“Well, it’s against the rules, but if he’s quick I guess it will be all right,” is the reply.
Dean goes back into the freezer unescorted. Both Johnny and Mila note that Larry, the security guard, gives the food delivery only a quick cursory glance. Soon Dean reappears and tells Larry, “OK, I have rotated all of the stock so you should be all set.”
The other delivery man quickly returns from the men’s room, Dean tells Larry, “See you on Thursday,” and the two leave. A few minutes later another employee comes back from the bathroom and mutters, “Somebody stunk up the rest room.”
That night Geoff reports this in his daily coded online message drop. The two learn that Doc Freeman has declared the mission a bust and he and his staff have fled back to Atlantic City. Three Team members remain behind but it is clear that the mission is doomed. Geoff risks a second message and asks if Doc Freeman can procure two dead bodies about Geoff and Natty’s right height and weight. They want him to work on the corpses so they will pass dental records check with their IDs as Johnny and Mila. Doc Freeman is a former coroner so this is a simple task. Since Richard Roman Enterprises has a security scan of the two it will have to match that too. Natty is very clear that these two ‘bodies’ not be harvested alive by the Team.
At their house in Sheridan, the two prepare a possible reason to leave Sheridan for next weekend. Mila finds a band performing in Billings on Saturday. It becomes her absolutely favorite group and she begs Johnny to take her. They buy tickets online and make a reservation for this coming Saturday night at a moderately priced hotel in Billings.
***
Wednesday, January 31, 2052:
Rex, Priest and Wayah move into the new house that Doc Freeman has rented on the sly. Wayah checks out the house interior while Priest sets up an electronic frontier outside. Rex sets up a secure communications system and the three secure the new base of operations.
Doc Freeman gets two appropriate corpses and begins working on them to pass as Johnny and Mila.
In the morning on her way to work, Mila looks over at Johnny and feels a familiar tingle. The cat biogen is going into her yearly heat cycle. That fact that there are no males of her species isn’t too much of a problem. Humans do quite nicely when a Caitlin biogen needs her itch scratched. Yes, Mila had ulterior motives for the Seduction lessons she has been giving Johnny. She could just try to ignore her biological urges for the mission’s sake, but that has never worked before. Besides, she is starting to like Geoff.
When the two return to corporate housing that day, Mila (Natty) pulls Johnny aside. She is thinking of explaining her situation, but she just ends up seducing him on kitchen floor. Instead of truth, she leads with, “You know we really need to kick up this newlywed cover a bit. I mean the honeymoon couldn’t be over with us, since we never had one to begin with. We have to sell this relationship to corporate security if they are listening.”
Geoff has his hands full with a needy biogenetically created cat / human hybrid in heat!
***
Thursday, February 1, 2052:
The Team in Billings is busy continuing to set up the new safe house. Doc Freeman finishes preparing the two corpses and readies them for overnight shipment to Billings.
In Sheridan, Johnny and Mila are taking their 11 am break when Dean Sorris and his assistant show up again with another food delivery. This shipment is three times the size of the last one. Also, this time Dean also has an extremely attractive young woman with him whose ample cleavage is nearly busting out of her jumpsuit. Larry, the security guard, is clearly interested. Still, the food delivery is early and Dean shows the guard his purchase order.
“Hey, you’re the ones that ordered all this stuff,” Dean tells Larry.
Looking at the paperwork, the security guard nods. “Yes, but this is highly irregular.”
“Well, we can load it back up and come next week, but we will have to charge you for the time,” Dean tells him. “This is probably a mistake, unless, of course, it’s for some corporate meeting that you don’t know about.”
That strikes a chord with Larry who can’t seem to take his eyes off Dean’s attractive young assistant.
“Or, I could just rearrange the freezer and pack it all in. That way all of our asses are covered,” explains Dean.
At this point the beautiful assistant walks up to Larry and Dean who introduces her, “Oh, Larry, this is my new trainee, Charli.”
“That’s Charli with an ‘i’,” she adds with a smile.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Larry replies as he tries to keep his gaze up on her face.
Charli smiles at Larry and asks, “Would it be all right if I used the bathroom?”
“Well, no one is allowed to go around unescorted,” Larry tells her.
“Why don’t you escort me?” she replies with a smile.
Larry hesitates so Dean adds, “We can load the food shipment in the freezer while you escort her.”
Larry needs no further encouragement and the two are off to the ladies room as Dean and his assistant load in the new food delivery. After a minute Mila excuses herself and goes to the ladies room also. Outside the bathroom door, Larry is waiting and talking to another guard, “Holy Shit! This Charli is hot and I think she likes me.”
Inside the ladies room, Charli is in a stall. Mila uses the one next to her. Five seconds after Charli exits her stall to wash up, Mila follows. The two stand at the sinks. Mila feels something being put into her pocket. This Charli has skills. She uses Mila’s body to mask the hand-off from the one security camera in the room. Charli starts to walk to the door, but stops at the side of the camera. The new girl points up and Mila notices that the camera now has a thin film over the lens that cuts down its coverage. The cat biogen goes to leave but tarries at the door. Charli leans and whispers in her ear, “Eleven am tomorrow, BOOM!”
The delivery ‘trainee’ leaves first, followed twenty seconds later by Mila. The rest of the work day is routine. On arriving home, Mila and Geoff examine the innocuous note Charli left in Natty’s pocket. Close examination reveals a micro dot. With her enhanced microscopic vision, Natty reads it. It is a complete detailed floor plan of the Sheridan headquarters of Richard Roman Enterprises. Geoff immediately transmits the day’s events to the rest of the Team via their coded NET board communications drop. The Team in Billings decides to risk calling the contact number that Dean had left Johnny and Mila.
At first the voice on the other end is hesitant to talk, but soon reveals that on Friday they are doing a data theft from Richard Roman’s office on Friday. It is too late to change their plans and work this into a snatch of Miles Quaritch, the security chief.
“We are both working towards the same goals,” Rex tells them. “We could help each other.”
“I’m only speaking to you as a courtesy,” is the reply. “I half trust the two operatives in Sheridan, but we really don’t know you.”
This isn’t the outcome the Team is looking for, but still, this is a possible ally that will need to be cultivated.
***
Friday, February 2, 2052:
Johnny and Mila study the floor plan of Roman’s corporate headquarters. The two assume that the explosives are located in the food shipment that arrived yesterday. They don’t know how big the blast will be so they look for the (relatively) safest place to be. With her demolition skill, Mila calculates that the room that their cubicle is in will be the safest. There is a large support pillar in the room and the two know the worker whose desk is behind it. They work up a reason to both be at that desk at 11 am when the explosion is scheduled to occur.
When the time comes, they are behind the pillar as an explosion shakes the building. It isn’t as big as they feared and no one is injured. The alarms go off and the two follow their fellow employees out the side emergency door. They go to a point about seventy feet from the building and wait with the others. Smoke is pouring out of the kitchen. Only Mila notices the slight shimmer of an Eclipse borg, an Arasaka Blackjack or a M-96 Ghost Suit slip out the door and head off. Soon the fire is out and a security man comes up and announces that there was a gas explosion in the kitchen. No one was seriously injured, but they all have the rest of the day off … with pay.
Johnny and Mila join the happy employees who now have a long weekend. On the front porch, another newspaper is waiting. Inside it is a piece of paper with a new phone number on it. Both are sure this is from Dean Sorris. Back at home Mila tells Johnny, “Since we have another half day off, let’s see if we can get our hotel room in Billings a day early and see the sights before the concert tomorrow.”
This is, of course, for the benefit of any corporate security listening in. Johnny agrees and Mila cleans the house before they go using all of her forensic abilities to remove any physical evidence of themselves.
The two head out to Billings and detect no signs of their being followed. Richard Roman’s corporate security has their hands full at the moment. They check in to their hotel room and go for a walk. When they are sure they are not being followed, they call the rest of the Team in Billings for a pickup. At the safe house, AJ (Natty) procures her encrypted satellite phone from Rex. Both the Bast Corporation and the Collective are eager to have the Team continue on their mission, but agree that Johnny and Mila have to go.
That night Geoff and AJ (Natty) take their corporate car to the countryside and meet the rest of the Team and the two corpses sent by Doc Freeman.
“What are you going to do with them?” asks Wayah.
“Barbeque,” reply Geoff and AJ in unison.
The corpses are tied up and given two bullets to the back of the head. The two are then put in the corporate vehicle and soaked with an extremely flammable liquid. The area where everyone walked is cleaned up (the AV landed on solid rock), and the car is set on fire. The Team flies off in the AV-4 to Boise, ID, where the Team catches a private flight back to Atlantic City. Even though their undercover job is over, AJ sticks close to Geoff. No one really takes any notice except for Rex. His fine-tuned olfactory senses pick up the scent of Natty’s heat.
***
Saturday, February 3, 2052:
The full Team meets in the morning at Doc Freeman’s facility in Pleasantville just outside Atlantic City.
“This whole thing has been a bit of a cluster fuck!” Priest says.
“Hey, I’m not an experienced Team leader,” responds the Doc. “I asked for my ‘friends’ to send someone to fill that role.”
“Then that will be me from now on,” declares AJ. The cat biogen looks around the room and no one challenges her bid for authority. With that settled the meeting continues.
“There is no way we can do this extraction now,” Priest announces.
“The security there is air tight and Miles Quaritch is completely paranoid,” Rex adds.
“Well, I say we contact Richard Roman and tell him that Miles Quaritch’s security procedures at the corporate headquarters are excellent,” Doc Freeman suggests.
Wayah thinks for a second then asks, “Will we still get paid?”
“I don’t see why not,” Doc replies. “The job was to test his security, which we did.”
“How much do we want to tell him about what we did?” inquires Geoff.
“We should give him the information that we found out, but not anything that Dean gave us,” suggests AJ. “Just give him the results, not how we did it.”
The wisdom of continuing to work for Richard Roman is discussed, but the investigation so far has raised more questions about Richard Roman than have been answered.
For the most part AJ is quiet during this part of the discussion. Finally she speaks. “Do we know if Pomfret Church has a cyberbrain?”
“Who is he?” asks Priest.
“Someone who works for Richard Roman in Sheridan,” she answers.
Doc Freeman checks his data base and says, “Yes, Pomfret Church does have a cyberbrain.”
“I’ve been giving this a lot of thought and I think we have been hired under false pretenses,” AJ says.
“How so?” Priest asks.
“Everywhere we look, the one connecting thread here is Doc Freeman’s cyberbrain. I don’t think the cyberbrain in Richard Roman’s body belongs to Richard Roman. Look at the history. The man was dying and is suddenly saved by the cyberbrain, which leads to a personality change, which is understandable and could be perfectly normal. However, there are irregularities in the timeline of the installation. It seems that all of Richard Roman’s top assistants have a cyberbrain. Also, one of Doc Freeman’s top researchers, the person who installed Richard Roman’s brain, now works for him. Anyone who could tell the difference between the old and the new Richard Roman was killed by a ‘rogue wave’ that destroyed his yacht in the Mediterranean. Yet we have reports that the Greek naval vessel that rescued the sole survivor, Richard Roman himself, noticed that the wreckage showed signs of being rammed and not capsized by this phantom wave. As soon as that report surfaced, ‘terrorists’ blew up that vessel, killing all the witnesses. Now, Dean Sorris’ story confirms that the ship was rammed by a submarine and all but Richard Roman and Dean killed. Dean says he hid amongst the wreckage and was missed in this house cleaning.”
“You know the attack on our penthouse in Billings came just after I began a NET search on Dean Sorris,” Rex adds.
Most on the Team had assumed that the attack in Billings came from one of the many groups that have called for Doc Freeman’s death. Now another motive crosses the Team’s minds.
“This is just confirming my suspicions,” continues AJ. “I think someone has hijacked Richard Roman’s cyberbrain. Look, this is all a conspiracy to get at his fortune and fund whatever his company is up to.”
“Like feeding the world?” asks Wayah.
“No, no,” AJ says. “The rich only pretend to care. There is someone or something moving behind all this.”
“Something?” questions Priest.
“It could be an A.I., a giant A.I. conspiracy!” responds AJ. “Since Doc here didn’t do the implants we can’t know. The point is: Doc Freeman is now the only person who has the knowledge and clout to prove that Richard Roman’s identity has been hijacked. Who best to hire to extract the head of security who may be suspicious of his boss? Why else would Miles make such an effort to drive Doc Freeman away from Sheridan, WY? It isn’t a secret that Doc’s invention saved his boss’s life. Miles’ hostility doesn’t make sense unless the security chief fears that he might be replaced by a cyberbrain double.”
(GM Note: Too late the cat biogen is off and running on her insane rant.)
AJ continues, “For Richard Roman, both success and failure on an extraction attempt work towards what I think is his goal. If we grab Miles, then Roman can replace him with his own man. If we fail, then it could easily end in Doc Freeman’s death. That’s a win/win for an ‘evil’ Richard Roman.”
The cat biogen had started her explanation in measured tones, but by the time she gets to the ‘A.I. Conspiracy theories’ her tone becomes very excited. The Team stares blankly at AJ for a second.
Rex replies, “OK, … well, we should look into this.”
“But what do we do now?” asks Wayah.
“Let’s call Richard Roman and report that Miles’ security protocols are first rate and go from there,” suggests Doc Freeman.
The Team agrees and he makes the call. Richard Roman says he wants a face to face report tomorrow in Atlantic City. They plan the meet. For now, Geoff wants his old face back, so Doc Freeman takes him to an operating theatre in his facility and restores his face. Even with all his accelerated healing, it will be six days before Geoff completely heals. This leaves Natty alone in high throes of her heat cycle. As A.J. Greenwood she dolls herself up and goes clubbing in Atlantic City. It’s not long before she finds two young studs and takes them back to a hotel room. None of them get any sleep that night.
***
Sunday, February 4, 2052:
Early in the afternoon, Richard Roman and his assistant Leslie Lords come to Doc Freeman’s facility in Pleasantville outside of Atlantic City. All but AJ (Natty) and Geoff (whose face is bandaged) are in the room for the meeting. AJ is paranoid and listens from the other room dressed in her Pit Viper armor and jacked into her 14.5mm assault rifle. As the meeting progresses, the cat biogen toys with the idea of stepping through the door and gunning down Richard and Leslie. It’s tempting but she decides against it.
Richard listens as Doc Freeman gives the security analysis. Others pipe up here and there with details that Doc misses. The Team produces the layout of the parts of the first floor that ‘Johnny’ and ‘Mila’ had access to. No mention is made of Dean Sorris. The client smiles, listens and nods as the Team endorses Miles’ security procedures. At the end he asks, “This is good to hear, but somebody did get inside and managed to do a data theft right from my office.”
“Well, we weren’t testing for that,” Rex points out. “Assassinating someone in the building would be difficult, but not impossible. As far as an extraction is concerned, anything less than all-out assault by heavily armored troops with air support will likely fail. Even that could be defeated depending on the hardware under the four corner domes on the building roof.”
“I’m very pleased with your work,” Richard tells them, “and I have another job for you. This is one of those ‘other jobs’ I spoke about before. I have a free food kitchen in Billings. The local chapter of Steel Legion, a nationally known booster gang, has hijacked the truck carrying the last shipment of food I sent there. The gang is demanding money for its return and a ‘protection’ fee to guarantee that future shipments get through. I can easily afford the bribe, but that sets a bad example. I want this gang gone from Billings, permanently. It’s worth 50,000 eb apiece for you all if this happens within the next six weeks.”
Richard Roman’s request is crystal clear. The Steel Legion’s reputation as cyber-psycho killers easily overcomes any qualms Team members have about straight out killing of the gangers. The Team agrees to the contract and Richard leaves with Leslie. The Team agrees to have another meeting in the morning to plan the next operation.
That night AJ visits Geoff and sits on the edge of his bed. The fixer is still in bandages, but the two talk over what happened in Billings. Finally AJ asks, “I was wondering if you could do something for me?”
“What do you want?”
“I want you to make love to me again.”
“Now?”
“Yes, and for the next couple of days,” AJ says.
Geoff considers her request as she adds, “Look, I’m not a creepy stalker or anything. I want you to fuck me long and hard for the next couple of days and not ask why. After that I won’t bother you. Is this really a difficult choice?”
The fixer is a little taken aback by this request. He knows he is no Casanova or Ron Jeremy, and AJ would have no trouble finding a companion for the night, but there is a hint of desperation in her voice. The girl does intrigue him and he is starting to like her. He agrees. AJ slips out of her clothes seductively and joins him in his narrow bed.
Next: Episode 25 – A Surprise Betrayal
Episode 25 – A Surprise Betrayal
The Team mounts their preliminary reconnaissance for their strike to wipe out the Billings Chapter of the Steel Legion for the gang’s continual high jacking of Richard Roman Enterprises trucks. Mounting ‘evidence’ that Richard Roman isn’t quite the philanthropist that his PR people make him out to be brings one character to decide it’s time for a ‘change in direction’ for Team Freeman. They all fall down a ‘rabbit hole’ that’s deeper than they ever dreamed.
Background
War has spread from the European Continent to Asia. In Europe, the EU starts using orbit bombardment within 50 miles of the front lines in Europe and slowly pushes east. By August 2051, Warsaw is surrounded and besieged. The city holds out. With Russia occupied in Europe, China opens a second front on them in Asiatic Russia. The Pacific Maritime provinces are overrun but Vladivostok, Lord of the East, remains in Russian hands.
Ghost Team 1 continues to train the new Islamic State of the Fezzan’ National Police under the direction of Warrant Officer Brandon Health. After the scandal in the Fezzan, Allison Cole drops the identity of Hanna Woo and continues her rich and indolent life. Natty is told she will NOT regain command of Ghost Team 1 and will be demoted one rank to 2nd Lieutenant to placate the outrage in the Fezzan over the videos of her and Hanna making out on the beach in Cyprus. The biogen resigns her commission in protest.
Natty is then offered a job by her ‘sister’ Cat to work with Doc Freeman and a new team he is putting together. This Team will being doing a series of jobs for multi-billionaire philanthropist, Richard Roman. Both the Bast Corporation and the Collective are interested in what this man is up to. It is rumored that Richard Roman is about to roll out a product that will end world hunger. This will of course put out of business many major agro-corps.
Richard Roman hires the Team to test the corporate defenses of Richard Roman Enterprises’ various facilities around the world. The Collective is sending two Nietzschean operatives to join this new Team. The first is a freshly trained male warrior, S-0002134.7, who also calls himself Priest. The second is a female operative originally called Sylvania Kelevra. She is a fourth generation warrior introduced in the Super Solo 2 Campaign back in 2027, and is coming as an American Cherokee Indian, Wayah Hyawasee (Wolf in Meadow). For a fixer, Geoff Stark of Atlantic City is recruited. Doc Freeman has known this young man for almost ten years and in that time Geoff has become an influential fixer in the Atlantic City area. Duke Strider is released from the Bast Corporation to work with the Team (and keep an eye on an angry Natty).
Dramatis Personae
Team Freeman
Doc Freeman: Former professor at UNLV, former assistant coroner and world-known cyber researcher. He is the inventor of the “cyberbrain” with which he claims to have cured death itself. Four years ago, the Republic of Mars legalized his cyberbrain for generalized use and he was honored by the Martian Academy of Science. A small number of Earth’s nations followed suit and now courts around the world are looking into ramifications of his work. The man is now rich beyond his wildest dreams. Many religious leaders have roundly condemned his work, which has earned him at least three fatwas calling for his death from major Islamic religious leaders. Many fanatical Christian groups have also called for his execution.
Duke Strider (aka Rex Greenwood): He is an experimental dog/human biogenetic hybrid made by the Collective on commission by the Bast Corporation. The Caitlins, who own Bast Corporation, plan to create male members of their race, but decided to make another species of hybrid first to test the science. Cat has asked him to keep an eye on Natty.
Geoff Stark: A sharp young fixer from Atlantic City first introduced as a 14 year old during the Atlantic City episodes of the Burn Notice Campaign. It was there he met Doc Freeman and infuriated the late Sam Fisher by dating his ‘daughter’, Cat. He is now 24 and a major player supplying Edgerunner teams with their needed gear in addition to running the production, distribution and sale of brain dance pornography in the Atlantic City area.
Natalie ‘Natty’ Lanikova (aka AJ Greenwood): A covert operative who most believe is the daughter of the late Lt. Alina Lanikova formerly of the Czech Special Forces (601st SOG). She is actually one of the prototype Biotechnica ‘Caitlin’ clones trained to operate in the Czech Republic. She resigned her position in the Bast Corporation’s Ghost Teams in protest after being disciplined over her affair with Allison Cole (aka Hanna Woo).
Priest (or S-0002134.7): He is a newly grown and trained fourth generation Nietzschean warrior on his first mission away from the Collective. Priest is a stealth/assassin model, but is being hired as a combat solo for the Team.
Sylvania Kelevra (or N-0038592.6): She is a fourth generation Nietzschean warrior who has spent the past twenty four years guarding the sheep flocks in the high pastures of New Zealand and producing three children of the fifth generation. These duties were the result of her initial disastrous mission back in 2027. (See Super Solo 2 Campaign for details). She is coming as an American Cherokee Indian, Wayah Hyawasee (Wolf in Meadow).
And helping the Team in the NET (against all orders) from afar is Nip Lacey: This slightly crazy young woman is the result of a failed experiment to create a gestalt mind of several netrunners. This project also inadvertently created Fred, a ferret looking creature that inhabits the NET and is fiercely loyal to Nip. While the girl is only 21, she has already earned advanced degrees in Computer Science and Robotics from Night City University. She faces life like a superhero wanting to do the ‘right thing’.
The NPCs
Bruno is one of Doc Freeman’s long time personal bodyguards.
Calvin Jenkins is a simple man who works refueling aircraft at the Sheridan Municipal Airport.
Charli is the new delivery assistant for Dean Sorris and his ‘food’ deliveries to Richard Roman’s headquarters.
Chief Harold Wiggins is the chief of police in Billings, MT.
Claude Dagrou is the national president of the Steel Legion motorcycle club.
Colonel Miles Quaritch is a retired Special Forces officer who is in charge of Richard Roman’s corporate security force.
Dean Sorris is a mysterious man with disturbing information about Richard Roman that may or may not be true.
Dr. Arabella Pasha is one of Doc Freeman’s former #1 assistants who left his employ about seven to eight years ago. Now employed by Richard Roman Enterprises.
Karen Potter is an attractive young woman with a bubbly personality. She is also Doc Freeman’s dedicated personal assistant.
Iron Head is national Sargent at Arms for the entire Steel Legion motorcycle club.
Jeremy Thresh was a rising star for NET 54 back in the 2040’s.
Julian is Doc Freeman’s personal tech for his biomechanical body.
Lance is the other of Doc Freeman’s long time personal bodyguards.
Pomfret Church is a security official at Richard Roman Enterprises in Sheridan, Wyoming.
Ricco Torres was a former member of the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police who later was hired by the Disney Corporation to assist an Edgerunner team brought in to push their political agenda in Rio. He was promoted and moved to Walt Disney World in Florida. When the United States government asked Disney for help, they sent Ricco who is still general manager of the Petersen Point Resort. He is a friend of both Doc Freeman and Natty Lanikova.
Richard Roman a former indolent playboy whose recovery from terminal cancer changed his life. He has become a corporate champion of feeding the hungry and helping end world poverty. The man practices what he preaches and runs the largest network of free food banks across the world.
Sammy Water is a private detective from Wyoming.
Samuel Sorris works with his brother Dean Sorris and is a former military man.
Senator White is a powerful senior leader in the United States Senate.
The Action
Monday, February 5, 2052:
On AJ’s (Natty’s) instruction, everyone with a chipware socket gets a Pilot: Remote +3 and a Remote/WAD Weaponry +3 chip so they can assist with the upcoming drone surveillance. AJ also has Geoff get a half a dozen IDs @ 25,000 eb each with option to improve on them. This set of IDs will identify them as a group following around a rich, young Russian money man looking for investments overseas in case the war goes bad. Priest and Wayah will be the Russian and his girlfriend, Kazimir Donskoy and Greta Hammond. Geoff Stark will become Frank Johnson, Kazimir’s American business contact (fixer). AJ will be Kazimir’s French Canadian secretary, Jean du Bois. Rex (Duke) will become Will Frost (a bodyguard) and Doc Freeman will also be a bodyguard, Stan Walston. It will take time for these papers to be readied.
All the NET jockeys (Duke, Natty, Priest, Wayah, Nip and a few of her minions) start working on research into the Steel Legion (of course), Pomfret Church and the Billings Police Department. There is a lot of work to do as the IDs are prepared.
***
Tuesday, February 6, 2052:
The Team works on getting the next operation off the ground. Today is Natty’s birthday and she spends it with Geoff. The cat biogen is coming out of her heat cycle. With their extended life span Caitlins have to deal with this only once a year. Geoff knows he is being used for sex, but what the hell! Besides, he realizes she is a smart, superbly trained operative. That he admires. It’s enough to keep him interested for now.
***
Wednesday, February 7, 2052:
Priest and Wayah head out to Billings, MT to prepare their rented mansion on the cliffs overlooking Billings as a Team HQ. AJ (Natty) comes out of heat, but she and Geoff continue to ‘share’ quarters. Finding someone you can trust is a rare event in an operative’s life. Cat said she could trust this human man. That’s good enough … for now.
Duke helps Doc Freeman with his ‘role’ as a bodyguard. The scientist may be a biomechanical cyborg, but he needs pointers to pull off caring about someone’s safety.
***
Thursday, February 8, 2052:
Nip sends her report on the Billings Police Department. The netrunner found the system rather simple and has installed a number of back doors for the team to use. Nip finds their Chief Wiggins an interesting character. She wants to look into him further and study the relationship between him and the Steel Legion. AJ gives her approval.
***
Friday, February 9, 2052:
Geoff’s face is completely healed today. The Team gathers their newly acquired clothes and gear and prepare to become Kazimir Donskoy’s (Priest) entourage. The group loads into a private plane at a small airport and begins the circuitous route back to Billings, MT. Geoff takes this time to put on a new disguise. Everyone else works with their cybernetic disguise feature.
***
Saturday, February 10, 2052:
The Team starts arriving in pre-dawn hours at the mansion on the bluff overlooking the city to the north. Priest and Wayah had been hiding their identities while up establishing an electronic frontier. They now become Russian ‘investor’ Kazimir Donskoy and his girlfriend Greta Bennett. The new household settles in to their new digs and identities.
Finally they have a report on Pomfret Church. He was born March 1, 2022 in Cheyenne Wyoming to a wealthy political family where Pomfret received the best of everything growing up. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in 2044, and joined the campaign of Senator Roger White (WY) directly out of school. In 2045, three senior members of Senator White’s staff died in a helicopter crash. Pomfret became Senator White’s right hand.
This research uncovered that Senator White has been a sitting Senator ‘forever’, and is currently Chairman of the Domestic Agriculture committee. He is expected to be re-elected, as there is nobody more popular to replace him. While he is married with children, there are rumors that he is a closeted homosexual.
While in Senator White’s employ several news stories surfaced depicting Pomfret as a cutthroat politician in his own right. He is cited as having an uncanny knack for uncovering the truth about people and situations. Pomfret is beginning to be pushed to the forefront as a replacement for the aging Senator White. A position the man publicly claims no interest in.
Evidence of a romantic involvement between Pomfret and Senator White surfaces in July of 2046 and is quickly “debunked” as false. The video that was “proof” of the relationship is proven to be fabricated and Net 54 reporter Jeremy Thresh is disgraced.
Pomfret is the victim of a home invasion in August of 2046 and is seriously injured by the attackers, placing him in a coma for over a year.
Senator White contacts Freeman Enterprise in Oct 2047, and soon Pomfret is given a cyberbrain. Church’s parents die in their sleep on Dec 24 2047; the cause is carbon monoxide poisoning due to a malfunction in the home’s heating system. In 2048, Pomfret leaves Senator White’s employment and joins Richard Roman Enterprises. The man regularly lobbies for Richard Roman Enterprises in both Cheyenne and Washington. Church has powerful political connections in Wyoming, Montana, and Washington.
The Net has been sanitized concerning Pomfret. There are many more dead end information trails that lead to removed or inaccessible web pages than can be coincidental.
This is clearly a man of influence and power. The Team decides to look into Jeremy Thresh, the reporter. Jean (Natty) and Frank (Geoff) express their mounting suspicions to each other.
***
Sunday, February 11, 2052:
The Team is ready to begin drone surveillance. Their cover story is that Mr. Donskoy is interested in investing in transportation and in particular, trucking. They will be using drones to study traffic patterns in and out of the Billings transportation hub. The Team has a modified Armadillo motor home rigged to service the drones. Only at night and only using the small drones does anything fly from the mansion.
***
Monday, February 12, 2052:
The drone missions continue. Kazimir Donskoy, Frank Johnson and Jean du Bois have a number of meetings with local business groups and officials about investing in Montana trucking.
By evening, the Team has assembled a report on Jeremy Thresh. The young man was a rising star at Net 54 with a bright future but was caught creating a political scandal (Pomfret Church) and disgraced. Jeremy commits suicide on Sept 13, 2046 by overdosing. The police report cites ‘no foul play’. Jeremy’s family hires Sammy Water, a private investigator, to look into the police findings, but in January of 2047 Water is found dead of a heart attack in his car. In March 2047 a fixer known as Magic Mark is one of 12 people found dead in a “gang style attack” in Cheyenne. A photo of Jeremy and his family is found in his stomach during the autopsy. The police report on the ‘Magic Mark’ incident contradicts the public accounts. The police report cites a military level of precision and efficiency was used to take down a well-protected target and his security force in their base of operations. Multiple witnesses (none reliable) claim to have seen “army dudes” with “huge guns” that looked like something out of Star Wars dropping from a very quiet space ship. No physical evidence can be found of such an assault except that all 12 victims are shot once in the head with API ammunition. In April 2047, Jeremy’s family moves away from Cheyenne after being unable to find anyone else willing to investigate further.
***
Tuesday, February 13, 2052 thru Friday, February 23, 2052:
The Team runs their surveillance on the Steel Legion and review the old footage that dealt with Pomfret Church’s movements. A very unhappy Collective has pulled its satellite surveillance from Team Freeman due to their failure to extract Miles Quaritch. The group manages a couple of long range drone missions to get fresh Intel on Pomfret Church’s movements.
During this time, Team Freeman puts together their report on Steel Legion. This report is based on surveillance and both Net and street inquiries. The Steel Legion was founded in the early 2000s. This gang quickly and brutally began to take territory from more established gangs but was always careful to expand into areas that are smaller and less appealing. This way the larger gangs would weigh the cost of an all-out war versus the value of smaller assets. After establishing a dozen charters in small to medium cities, the gang reels itself in and solidifies its holdings. In 2015, the gang opens its first big city charter in Denver. This leads to 10 years of war with larger gangs, but they hold on. In the 2020s the gang went heavy into cyber ware and opened charters in Seattle and San Francisco. Having a solid presence in the Pacific Northwest and north central United States, the gang once again settled in.
The Billings Chapter is founded in 2037 by a group of nomads who just kind of settled there. After a few run ins with local police an uneasy “line” is drawn and the gang stays. In 2038 the Steel Legion absorbs two local gangs and moves into the abandoned Canyon Creek High School. Traveling Steel Legion Nomads seem to hang around the Billings chapter for extended periods and often end up staying in Billings. This swells their numbers to almost 40 active members in the area at any one time. Jason Riley takes leadership of the chapter in 2040 and steers it towards more legitimate earning potential. Many members leave for other chapters but older members that have gone nomad from their home chapters find they like the less violent and slower pace in Billings.
Jason gets a visit from ‘Iron Head’, the Sargent at Arms for the entire Steel Legion, in 2046. The meeting doesn’t go well. Iron Head believes there is no place for a ‘retirement home’ for old gangers, only a graveyard. In 2047, The Steel Legion rolls into Billings in force to ‘realign’ the Billings charter. As the Gang nears Canyon Creek High they are intercepted by a large police force and escorted in. A meeting between Jason and Claude Dagrou takes place and terms are agreed to. The Billings Chapter keeps its name but changes the color on their patch, they continue to pay tithes and support the parent gang as ordered. Claude rolls out of town not liking the situation but knowing that the Billings chapter is in deep with the local police and that war is not an option. Better to collect tithes and keep loose access to the charter’s assets than to cut them loose and gain nothing. Jason is not happy either, but realizes that keeping the Steel Legion name gains his charter protection from larger gangs that would want his territory.
The Billings Charter is more like a guardian gang and operates several legitimate businesses under the “Steel” umbrella. The gang often polices crime in ways the police cannot and the police turn a blind eye. All of this doesn’t square with the Team’s initial information from Richard Roman and Leslie Lords.
***
Saturday, February 24, 2052:
Nip contacts the Team. She has finished her investigations into the Billings Police Chief. Chief Harold Wiggins was born in Billings on January 1, 2001, and joined the Army at 17. He spent 20 years in the military police before retiring at the rank of Major. Directly out of the Army he returned to Billings and took the job of Deputy Chief of Police. Billings Police force gained a reputation of brutal efficiency after then Deputy Chief Wiggins instituted military style standards for proficiency and professionalism. Locals know a suggestion is a demand worded politely, and criminals often appear in court bruised and bloody from resisting arrest. Major crime numbers drop to way below national average in 2041. Many capitol offenders are found dead or go missing. A Paper written by then Capt. Harold Wiggins surfaces that supports local people policing themselves and in general supports a form of vigilante justice. Two years later in 2040 Wiggins becomes Chief of Police when his predecessor retires (yes, he is still alive and well).
In June of 2045 a reporter photographs Chief Wiggins passing an envelope to Jason Riley. A scandal ensues that tarnishes Chief Wiggins. Chief Wiggins survives the political backlash and a young reporter for Net 54, Jeremy Thresh, becomes a rising star.
(Nip) finds a picture hidden on a cloud drive that had a war-on-terrorism publicity picture entitled “Justice”. It depicts a group of soldiers escorting blindfolded terrorists to a transfer, the terrorists will be turned over to a country that will execute them. Left to Right: LT. Harold Wiggins, Sgt. Dean Sorris, Sgt. Samuel Sorris, Pfc. Jason Riley. Photo credits to Spec. Charli Rose.
***
Sunday, February 25, 2052:
Jean (Natty) reflects on the information Team Freeman has gathered. The lies of Richard Roman just continue to stack up. The philanthropist’s off-handed comments about the possibility of the Team killing some of his security men bothers her no end. (“Don’t worry; I can hire more”.) The true nature of the Billings Chapter of the Steel Legion and the fact that their leader, Jason Riley, is obviously a close friend and confidant of the team’s new ally, Dean Sorris, makes the destruction of the Billings Chapter problematic. Also, the gang’s HQ in the old school isn’t a den of cruel boosterdom as Richard Roman described. It is filled with families, a school and a community looking after itself. Yes, it is still ruled by an outlaw biker culture, but to Natty that feels like home.
The cat biogen makes sure she is alone when she pulls out her encrypted satellite phone and calls the Collective. A Collective contact comes on. Natty explains that she believes Richard Roman isn’t the benevolent philanthropist he claims to be. If they go through with their next mission, it will result in the deaths of the best intelligence they have on Richard Roman. Furthermore it will end with a massacre of innocents and further the ends of whatever conspiracy is behind Richard Roman Enterprises. She recommends they immediately start working against Richard Roman and get to the bottom of whatever is going on. Natty feels that sacrificing their only possible allies is too high a price to pay.
The Collective tells Natty they will call her back briefly. Ten minutes later their answer is this, “You will do everything in your power to stay employed by Richard Roman and learn what his plans are.”
The Collective’s meaning was clear, but she wants to hear them say it. “So you are recommending massacring the Steel Legion and their families.”
The mono-toned voice on the line repeats, “You will do everything in your power to stay employed by Richard Roman and learn what his plans are.”
“Understood,” Natty says before hanging up. Understood? Yes, but do it? Fuck no! This isn’t right.
The cat first goes to her fellow hybrid biogen, Duke. As far as Natty feels, this is Team Freeman and the Doc put her in command. It’s not a Collective project as far as she is concerned. Natty tells Duke she is going to defy the Collective and make common cause with Dean Sorris and his people. Duke too has been having second thoughts about their impending attack. He agrees to follow Natty’s lead.
That night Jean (Natty) and Geoff lie together, cooling off in a post coital embrace, when she whispers to him, “There is something I need to tell you.”
He gives her that look, to which she says, “No, I’m not pregnant; if it were only so simple.”
“Well, what is it?”
The girl sits up and goes on, “Well, I have some ‘friends’ who are interested in what is happening here.”
“Are these the same ‘friends’ that Doc Freeman seems to be answering to?”
The cat biogen thinks for a minute. “Maybe; I don’t know everyone he answers to. Look I need to ask you something. We here are all about to step down a rabbit hole from which there may be no coming back. You can walk away now and your world should be safe. But, if you keep on the road we’re traveling, your whole life is about to change.”
Geoff looks at the girl with him. Fixers are by nature risk adverse or rather the ones that survive are. He also knows that you have to ride the edge to get ahead. “Change is good. I’m in.”
“Well,” Natty begins. “It started about 35 years ago with an Arasaka and Biotechnica black project …… all that isn’t really the point. The important thing is that do you know how everyone thinks there are only a few hundred biogenetic constructs around?”
“Yes?”
“Well, there are a lot more and we’re really organized.”
Geoff’s eyes widen and a vein in his temple pulses wildly. (GM Note: He failed his COOL role.) He jumps out of the bed towards the door. Natty is ready and grapples him on the floor. He tries to break loose, but she holds him firmly and as gently as possible and says, “Please don’t struggle. You have almost no chance of winning and I just want to talk.”
The young fixer stops and she lets him free. Geoff backs up to the wall still sitting on the floor. Natty sits up opposite him leaning against the bed.
“So, you’re one of them?” asks Geoff.
“Yes,” she replies. “And please don’t freak out again.”
A few seconds of awkward silence pass. Then Geoff asks, “So, are Priest and Rex (Duke) biogens too?”
“You’re the only human in the group,” Natty says with a laugh. “Doc Freeman was human once, I guess; not much left now.”
“So, what does all this have to do with us now?” asks Geoff.
“This biogenetic Collective wants me to follow Richard Roman’s orders and exterminate the Steel Legion and I won’t do it. That man is no benefactor to mankind. He is a murdering liar with no respect for human life. He killed his own family. Look Geoff, I’m about to betray our employer and tell one of the biggest and most dangerous secret societies in the world to go fuck themselves.”
“Why would you do this?”
“Because killing all of the Billings Steel Legion and their families is wrong,” she tells him. “Look, I was created in a lab, by some geek with an overinflated sense of his own godhood, but I was made to be a bodyguard, someone who protects life. There is a killer in me too, no doubt, but every fiber of my being tells me this is the right thing to do.”
Geoff stares at the naked girl sitting on the floor talking to him. Well, it was a girl when they started peeling off each other’s clothes earlier. Since then she had become a fearsome predator and then a passionate being with more humanity than himself since he was young. She was making him start to care again. “I’ll follow you.”
***
Monday, February 26, 2052:
Natty and Geoff go to talk to Doc Freeman in the morning. Natty pitches her idea of betraying Richard Roman and throwing in with Dean Sorris. The moral implications of murdering the families and members of the Billings Chapter of the Steel Legion mean nothing to the Doc. For him, the ends always justify the means. The cat biogen’s observation that soon they will be running live ammo simulations against Richard Roman’s security troops commanded by Colonel Miles Quaritch, who is a confirmed hater of Doc Freeman, makes more headway.
“After we have done a few more of Richard Roman’s dirty missions, what better way to get rid of anyone who can connect him to the jobs than having an ‘accident’ during one of these training simulations,” Natty suggests.
Doc Freeman thinks on this. He would be lying if he said this scenario hadn’t crossed his mind. Geoff backs Natty on this and the old scientist decides to go with his ‘tactical’ commander’s advice. He also respects Geoff’s opinion on such things.
Next, Geoff and Natty go and speak to Wayah alone. The fact Wayah is a Nietzschean worries Natty. That race is somewhat rigid in their thinking. It is surprisingly easy to get her agreement. Wayah answers them thusly, “On my first mission for the Collective, I blindly followed my training even when faced with a situation that was outside of anything I had been prepared for. I spent the past 25 years guarding sheep because of that failure. Sometimes the Nietzschean way doesn’t work. I’m with you.”
Natty next has to speak to the final member of Team Freeman, Priest.
“I better speak to him alone,” Natty tells Geoff. “He’s right out of the box and might prove a little inflexible.”
“What do you mean, right out of the box?” Geoff asks.
While Natty now trusts Geoff, she doesn’t feel like going into the history of Nietzschean reproduction so she says, “He’s newly trained and might not be as understanding as Wayah.”
Geoff agrees to let her talk with Priest alone. Natty loads up a clip of 12mm SAS anti-personnel rounds for her handgun. Young Nietzscheans aren’t known for their ‘flexible’ thinking, but they are known for killing those they deem traitors to the Collective.
Priest listens to Natty’s ideas and explanations. When she is done, the young Nietzschean sits back and thinks. Natty readies to receive his attack. What he says and his logic surprises her.
“This is not a Collective mission. I have received no specific instructions from the Collective concerning it. I was told by my Nietzschean handler that I was to protect Doc Freeman’s life above all else. If the Doc is on board, then so am I. He put you in command and you have led us well since then. I’m in.”
“You know the Collective kills people who directly defy them?” Natty reminds him.
“Only if they are wrong and fail,” adds Priest with a smile.
The Team meets in full and confirms their new ‘change in direction’.
“Who’s going to pay us?” asks Geoff.
All eyes turn to Doc Freeman. Natty boldly asks, “Since we will be risking our lives for your valuable property, we could really use a couple of million in electronic cash.”
“Yeah, why not?” Doc says. “I can afford it. I’ll instruct my people to move some money.”
“And here is the account number it should be sent to,” replies Natty while handing him a chip.
“Well, what do we do now?” asks Doc Freeman.
“Call Dean Sorris and give him the news,” replies Natty.
The phone call is made. Dean is surprised to hear from the Team. Their urgency gets him to agree to meet at the local Billings casino tomorrow. Natty tells Dean he probably won’t recognize them from their previous encounter so passwords and countersigns are exchanged.
***
Tuesday, February 27, 2052:
Jean (Natty), Frank Johnson (Geoff) and Will Frost (Duke) go to the Billings Casino for the meet with Dean and his people. Contact is made and the three Team members are led to a secure room. It is clear that Dean and his people are very experienced at this.
Jean (Natty) opens with the information, “We have been given a new assignment by Richard Roman. We are to wipe out the Steel Legion Charter in Billings, Montana.”
Dean and his people are taken aback. Finally the elder Sorris replies, “Well, we really wouldn’t want you to do that.”
“I know,” Jean responds as she slides a copy of the photo that Nip discovered of now Chief Wiggins along with Dean, his brother Samuel and Jason Riley escorting a group of terror suspects. “We don’t want to do it either. I have to wonder though, why does Richard Roman want the gang destroyed so badly?”
Dean explains that Richard Roman Enterprises has developed a new food additive and is putting it in all of the food he sends to his soup kitchens around the world. The data they gathered prove that this additive is being produced at a loss. The figures of Richard Roman Enterprises just don’t add up. Also, why would someone who is so dedicated to eradicating world hunger kill so blithely to make sure everyone gets his food additive. Yes, it will revolutionize world agriculture and make Richard Roman a fortune, but the whole thing smells like festering garbage.
Natty asks for some samples of the food additive the Steel Legion got from their recent heist of Richard Roman Enterprise’s shipment. Sorris arranges for a dead drop tomorrow.
Dean also questions why a good man would murder his whole family (and attempt to kill him in the process). Sorris also tells the team that over the past couple of years, people in Richard Roman’s employ have been systematically hunting down anyone his group cares about. These are NOT the actions of a philanthropist! Finally Dean tells them that this chapter of the Steel Legion is the only thing standing in the way of his expansion north and into Canada.
“When we don’t deliver on the destruction of the Steel Legion, we will be fired or worse,” Natty reminds him.
“I can’t permit you to destroy the Steel Legion,” Dean tells the group.
“Agreed,” confirms Natty. “You’re just going to have to kill us instead.”
This brings looks of shock from both Dean’s people and Team Freeman.
“You have an understanding with Chief Wiggins, I assume?” asks Natty.
“Yes, but we don’t control him,” responds Dean.
“Do you think you could get him to cooperate and fake a firefight that ends in the ‘deaths’ of me and my Team?” asks Natty.
Smiles replace the astonished looks on the attendees of this meeting.
“I think that could be arranged,” Dean answers.
“We have two and a half weeks before we have to produce results,” Natty explains. “In that time we will plan and execute the extraction of Pomfret Church. As you told us, he probably has the answers to what is going on. We will grab Church as you are ‘wiping us out’. Richard Roman will write us off as dead and we will be able to move against him secretly with the information we glean from Pomfret.”
It is clear from the looks on the faces of Dean’s people that they like the idea.
“I’ll take this to the Steel Legion and Chief Wiggins,” Dean finally says. “The number you have is no longer good. This time you give me a number and we will call you with an answer in a couple of days.”
Dean is given a phone number to use and the two groups split up. The Team continues their planning for the Pomfret Church extraction. Regardless of Dean’s answer, Team Freeman is going ahead with the extraction.
Dean also gives Natty a copy of the data grab from his earlier penetration of Richard Roman’s office.
***
Wednesday, February 28, 2052:
Dean does deliver a sample of the food additive for the Team to study. Plans continue for the Pomfret Church extraction as the Team waits for the decision by the Steel Legion and Chief Wiggins. On a whim Natty asks Doc Freeman to check if Claude Dagrou the national president of the Steel Legion also has a cyberbrain. The Doc checks his list and yes indeed, he has one put in by Dr. Arabella Pasha just before she left his employ.
***
Thursday, February 29, 2052:
A little before 11 am Natty receives a call from Dean Sorris. Chief Wiggins, Jason Riley and the Billings Chapter of the Steel Legion agree to the plan to fake the attack and deaths of the Team. Communications protocols are established to get the gang various pieces of the Team’s gear to be found at the site of the attack. It is decided that neither Doc Freeman nor Geoff Stark will take part (and be killed) in the ‘attack’.
The Team begins serious planning on their next operation: the Extraction of Pomfret Church.
***
Friday, March 1, 2052 thru Saturday, March 9, 2052:
The Team does the surveillance to prepare for their extraction of Pomfret Church. Dean Sorris and Jason Riley work with Chief Wiggins to fake the Team’s ‘defeat and death’ by the Steel Legion.
***
Sunday, March 10, 2052:
The Team discovers a weakness in Pomfret Church’s security. They make plans to grab him this coming Thursday morning. Richard Roman Enterprises has two AV-4s. One of them always takes Mr. Church to and from work. The aerodynes are kept on the roof of the corporate headquarters and are under heavy guard. They only time they aren’t, is when they are being refueled at the Sheridan Municipal Airport. That airport has one person in the tower and one man who refuels the aircraft. The fuel technician is one Calvin Jenkins, a ‘not too bright’ thirty five year old who lives alone in a trailer near the airport. No one pays attention to ‘Simple Cal’.
Natty tells Priest, “You need to study this man and replace him at the airport.”
“Why?” asks Priest.
“Because one AV refuels there on Tuesday and the other refuels on Wednesday,” Natty starts to explain.
“Oh, so we grab the AV and pick him up,” interrupts Wayah.
“No, Priest will install a kill switch on the engine of each craft when it refuels,” explains the cat biogen. “We know the Roman Enterprises AV-4’s markings and what the crew looks like. We also have the visual recognition codes for the pickup. On Thursday, we disable the real AV before it can pick up Pomfret and then we can scoop him up ourselves in our own specially prepared AV-4.”
“They’ll just call the man when the AV won’t start,” Duke points out.
“Well, then we will have to go and put a tap on his landline to intercept the call and a short range cell jammer at his house to make sure that doesn’t happen. We can do that late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.”
“Well, I better study our films of Calvin and get ready to replace him,” Priest says.
“And please try not to kill him,” adds Natty. “Get some drugs from Doc Freeman and keep him tied up and unconscious in his trailer.”
Priest seems a little disappointed, but everyone is on board with the plan and Team Freeman gets moving on it.
***
Monday, March 11, 2052:
As Team Freeman moves forward on their plan to capture Pomfret Church, Natty realizes that no one on the Team has any skills at interrogation. She brings this up to the group.
“Just leave him with me for a few hours,” Priest tells them. “I’ll have him talking.”
“Yes, but will it be the truth?” asks Geoff. “And will you be able to tell?”
“Humans are pathetic,” Priest reminds everyone. “This Church person won’t be able to hide the truth from us.”
Geoff rolls his eyes. Priest catches this but says nothing. As much as he wouldn’t mind ‘adjusting’ Geoff’s attitude, he doesn’t want to aggravate the Caitlin by hurting her current boy toy. No one voices support for Priest’s interrogation plan.
“I know someone who might help,” Natty suggests. “I met a man in Florida five years ago, who is very skilled at this sort of thing. He is a friend, but we’ll still have to pay him.”
“Who is he?” asks Duke.
He is a Disney executive now, but he used to be a policeman in Rio de Janeiro. His name is Ricco Torres.”
“I know Ricco,” adds Doc Freeman with a smile. “He’s a good man and can certainly do the job.”
“Can we trust him?” asks Wayah.
“Ricco stood up to the US government to protect me,” Natty continues. “When I had no one to turn to he saved me at great personal risk to himself. He did this because it was the right thing to do. I trust him with my life.”
With Doc Freeman’s enthusiastic endorsement, it is decided that Natty will call and ask. The cat biogen moves some her personal money around in some of her numbered Cayman accounts to fund bringing Ricco in. That afternoon she calls him in Blackwater, Florida.
(GM Note: I have to admit, I was totally unprepared for the players to call on Ricco Torres’ expertise. Ricco is a PC who participated in the Rio de Janeiro section of the Burn Notice Campaign and the entire Fall of the Cotton Kingdoms Campaign. This player posts on vfte under the handle SnowCrystal and is one of our GMs. Currently she is playing one of her other characters, Duke Strider, a dog-human biogen.
Our gameplay style encourages player characters to acquire contacts that may be helpful to them in the future. Even though Ricco Torres is a PC, we like to have the same rules apply. As a group you are generally allowed only one character in a game. Exceptions can be made when another of a PC’s characters is called upon, but the second character’s actions are always subject to veto by the GM. In this case, I decided to let SnowCrystal use Ricco Torres as the Brazilian does have an established soft spot for Natty Lanikova, since he watched her grow up as an NPC in Fall of the Cotton Kingdoms.)
Natty chats up Ricco, who is happy to hear from the girl. Finally the cat biogen gets down to the reason for her call. She doesn’t lie to the Brazilian and lays out the Team’s predicament. The girl does leave out any mention of the Collective, but is otherwise brutally truthful: Will Ricco come up (all expenses paid) and interrogate Pomfret Church for them? Ricco has a fair amount of ‘private wealth’ and cares little about the 10,000 eb Natty offers like some sort of perverse ‘honorarium’. He is far more concerned about the possibility of a plot against the world’s food supply. Ricco agrees to come and he and Natty work out the details. The Brazilian ex-cop arranges to meet them this coming Thursday evening.
***
Tuesday, March 12, 2052:
Priest is brought in close to Sheridan, WY. In the pre-dawn hours, he enters Cal Jenkins’ trailer and subdues the man. Drugged and tied up, Priest puts him in a chest under the bed (with lots of breathing holes). Priest ‘becomes’ Calvin Jenkins and goes off to work. It isn’t a strenuous job. No one ever really talks with ‘Simple Cal’ or pays attention to him. This is true of the pilot and co-pilot who bring their Richard Roman Enterprises AV-4 to be fueled. Priest easily has time to install the electronic shut down switch cobbled together by Natty using her ‘Crosswire’ skill.
***
Wednesday, March 13, 2052:
It is another quiet day at the Sheridan Municipal Airport. Calvin Jenkins (aka Priest) refuels the second Richard Roman AV-4 and plants the engine shut-off switch. That evening Natty and Duke prepare to do an intrusion into the executive housing area of Richard Roman Enterprises. The two carry a small cell phone jammer that can be activated remotely and a tap on the land line that will enable them to intercept any incoming and outgoing calls.
Although the security around the executive housing is impressive, it is no match for two highly trained and skilled biogenetic operatives. The two quietly slip through the defenses and arrive at Pomfret Church’s house. They attach the tap and jammer easily enough, but Natty hears voices from inside the house. Curiosity gets the better of the ‘cat’ and she slips up to the window to listen.
“So it will be you who goes in to the office tomorrow?” asks Pomfret Church.
“Yes, we have some security interviews tomorrow, and you’re not ready enough for that,” answers an identical voice.
Natty pulls out her snake camera and tries to take a look inside the house. The curtains are drawn. Switching visions doesn’t help as the windows are treated. She can tell there are definitely two people talking. Duke comes up and listens. He agrees: definitely two people. One of them is senior to the other and he will be taking the AV in to work tomorrow. The two biogens slip away and make note that they will have to find out what is going on here. Natty is sure that Ricco can get to the bottom of it.
***
Thursday, March 14, 2052:
In the early morning hours, a ‘firefight’ erupts near the old Canyon Creek High School, now the HQ of the Billings Steel Legion Charter. Around noon, the resulting dead bodies turned over to the police are reported as Priest, Wayah, Rex and AJ Greenwood.
It is another peaceful morning in Sheridan, Wyoming. An AV-4 with the markings of Richard Roman Enterprises lands, as usual, at Pomfret Church’s house. Pomfret walks out to the waiting craft, climbs aboard and buckles himself in. As the craft lifts off, the security official realizes this is not his usual ‘ride’. He looks around at the disguised Team and says, “This is a masterful job, well done.”
The man is hit with the maximum dose of Doc’s own knock out sedative. This appears to do the trick. As the AV heads north, they quickly find a cybernetic tracker inside Pomfrets body. They remove it un-triggered. The shielded craft hops the Canadian border. The Team has rented a large hunting lodge with several outbuildings on a large property in Canada. Pomfret is kept unconscious and under ECM cover.
By mid-afternoon, Doc Freeman gets a message from Richard Roman Enterprises: You’re fired!
(GM Note: Richard Roman is very, very disappointed. Doc Freeman’s reputation has always been one for brutal and deadly efficiency. He is beginning to wonder if the old man has lost his touch.)
Later that evening Ricco Torres arrives. Natty is happy to see the Brazilian and tells him Doc Freeman is on his way from New Jersey and will be here tomorrow. The cat biogen is quite candid about what they have been doing except for any mention of the Collective. Ricco says he will do what he can. They will start tomorrow morning.
***
Friday, March 15, 2052:
The Team waits as Ricco Torres begins his interrogation of Pomfret Church. Ricco realizes right away that the man has counter interrogation training, so the Brazilian has no choice but to ramp up his methods. The interrogation goes on well into the next day.
***
Saturday, March 16, 2052:
Pomfret Church is a tough nut to crack. Ricco finds himself stooping to some physical coercion and selective torture. The man is an infuriating subject and the Brazilian goes farther into the dark and brutal methods that he normally abhors. Even Jean (Natty) standing nearby is surprised but doesn’t stop him. Priest makes notes. By evening Pomfret Church is a bloody, broken mess, but he still hasn’t cracked. It is then that Ricco has an epiphany.
(GM Note: It was time to give Ricco an interrogation roll. The player rolls a pair of 10s and an 8 for a total result of 42! This deserved a major revelation so I went with it.)
The Disney executive realizes that no one could go through this and act like Pomfret is. The words come out of Ricco’s mouth, “No human could stand this and still be rational.”
Pomfret Church stops moaning in pain, looks up at Ricco like a sociopathic child caught in a lie. With a smarmy smile, he says, “Nothing you do matters. We are everywhere and will hunt all of you down.” And to the shadowy figures in the back of the room, “You are all dead and just don’t know it.”
Jean (Natty) comes out of the shadows and looks into Pomfret Church’s twisted grinning face. Without turning away from his gaze she says, “OK, Doc, he’s all yours. Take it apart and tell me what makes this thing tick.”
The cat biogen leaves the room as the lights come on. Doc Freeman and Julian wheel in the Doc’s equipment.
“What type of anesthetic do you want to use, Doc?” Julian asks.
“No, anesthetic, my boy,” Doc Freeman responds.
The inventor of the cyberbrain proceeds to begin the autopsy of Pomfret Church while he is still alive.
The work is done a little before eleven in the evening. Doc Freeman comes and gives his findings.
“I don’t know who that really was on the table, but it wasn’t Pomfret Church. He has a different style of cyberbrain. Whatever was in there wasn’t human, but rather an A.I. in a cloned body.”
“Is that possible?” asks Geoff.
“This afternoon I would have said no, but now ….”
“What information did you get out of it?” asks Natty.
“Nothing,” Doc Freeman says with a hint of disappointment in his voice. “This thing had started deleting his files as soon as we captured him. His brain was erasing its hard drive over and over again for the past couple of days.”
“How could it talk with all of its files erased?” Duke inquires.
“I’ll have to study the brain some more, but it seems to be divided into a few parts. One holds a personality construct, another holds the files necessary to operate the cloned body and a third section contains other memory files that have all been permanently deleted.”
“So this A.I. is now dead?” asks Wayah.
“This one, yes, but there are others that it was in contact with,” says Doc Freeman.
“So they know who we are and what happened to this one?” Duke asks.
“I don’t think so,” answers the Doc. “Our jamming and the Faraday cage we built into the AV-4 blocked any communication. The rest of the A.I.s won’t know what happened to it, only that ‘something’ happened. Look, I want to get this thing back to my lab as soon as possible. I might be able to tell you more then.”
The Team agrees to this and the cyberbrain is given to him. Geoff arranges to store the cloned body of Pomfret Church at another location. Natty asks Ricco not to mention her real name to anyone he talks with. Ricco agrees to keep her real identity out of this, and heads back to Florida. The Team has a new found respect for Natty as she recognized the A.I. threat weeks ago. All the cat biogen can think is that this is way bigger than she imagined.
(GM Note: No, Natty didn’t foresee the A.I. cyberbrain twist. The player got carried away with the description of a possible plot about hijacked cyberbrains. As the other players listened in growing disbelief to Natty’s idea, the A.I. plot was thrown in because it was the craziest thing he could think of!)
***
Sunday, March 17, 2052:
Doc Freeman brings Pomfret Church’s dismantled A.I. cyberbrain back with him to his laboratories outside of Atlantic City. There he and his chief assistant Dr. Harcourt begin to reverse engineer it. For Doc Freeman, this is child’s play. The entire technology is based on his work.
Back in Blackwater, Florida, Ricco Torres thinks long and hard about the applications for the technology that he has just seen. This is exactly the type of thing that Walt 2.0, the Disney A.I., would be interested. Protocol would dictate that he kick this upstairs to his supervisor, Richard King. Then the thought creeps in: why give this to Dick when it’s my discovery? Ricco makes a call to Bella, the chief Disney A.I. of Fantasia in Rio de Janeiro and an old friend. He explains what he knows of this new technology that allows A.I.s to walk around not tethered to a mainframe. Needless to say, Bella is very excited. She promises to bring this to Walt’s attention immediately and will call him back. Two hours later Ricco has an appointment for this coming Tuesday morning to meet with Walt 2.0 in the mainframe of a Disney work shack in space.
***
Monday, March 18, 2052:
Doc Freeman and Dr. Harcourt continue their study of the late Pomfret Church’s cyberbrain back in the labs outside of Atlantic City. Geoff has Pomfret Church’s cloned corpse put on ice and hides it. This is a major piece of physical evidence concerning the A.I. Cyberbrain Conspiracy. The cat biogen calls her sister Cat Vaduva and informs her about their faked death and her defiance of the Collective’s orders. Natty feels that the discovery of how the A.I.s are using Doc Freeman’s invention justifies her actions.
“Natty, the Collective will probably have you and your whole Team killed for what you’ve done,” her sister tells her.
“Only if I fail,” Natty reminds her. “I need some help. I know I am right about this. We now have some physical evidence, and I need some help getting some support here.”
“All right, prepare a file and as much ‘evidence’ as you have. Get it to me as soon as possible, and I’ll see what I can do,” Cat says.
Natty works with Duke and Geoff preparing a report. Priest and Wayah continue their masquerade as Kazimir Donskoy and Greta Hammond as they visit Canadian Transport Ministry officials in Vancouver.
***
Tuesday, March 19, 2052:
In the morning, Ricco Torres makes a NET trip to a Disney orbital work shack for his private meeting with Walt 2.0 and Bella. The two A.I.s are interested to know who is leading the Team that contacted him, but Ricco honors Natty’s request and doesn’t divulge her name. As long as Ricco is convinced of his contact’s veracity, that is good enough for the two A.I.s. Yes, Walt 2.0 wants the technology. He asks Ricco to arrange for one of the Disney scientists to arrange to look at it. If it is viable, Disney wants to deal.
Walt 2.0 tells Ricco, “If this turns out to be what you claim, you’ll be promoted to Senior Vice President of ‘Whatever the Fuck You Want’.
Ricco reminds Walt and Bella, “The Team holding this technology is looking for some serious money for this.”
“Assure your contacts that we are prepared to pay handsomely for this technology,” Walt 2.0 says. To Bella he says, “You have contacts with other cliques of A.I.s than myself. Why don’t you see if any have heard of these A.I.s who have gone flesh, my dear?”
Bella says he’ll ‘ask around’ and then the orbital NET meeting breaks up. Ricco prepares his offer to Natty. Walt 2.0 and Bella loose up some millions, but this will take a couple of days.
***
Wednesday, March 20, 2052:
By evening Natty, Duke and Geoff have prepared a report on all the evidence they have to support their version of the A.I. Plot. All of the ‘circumstantial’ evidence is included and stacked in such a way that it is clearly not harmless speculation. There are too many deaths on the hands of the conspirators for it to be just chance. They have the data dump from Richard Roman’s office. They include Senator White’s complicity and his weakness for handsome young men. If he is not directly involved, then he is compromised by his behavior. Leslie Lords’ connection with the military and the C.I.A. is detailed, along with the threat this poses. The Agency could already be compromised.
At about 10 pm, Natty puts all of this on a disk and goes to a NET meeting with Cat. There she turns over the documents to her sister and parts company. Cat takes the file home and downloads it on a closed, free-standing server. She then makes four hard copies to study tomorrow. This is going to be a long read.
***
Thursday, March 21, 2052:
Kazimir and Greta (Priest and Wayah) return from Vancouver and their job of keeping their cover story straight. Still, the mansion in Billings is guarded by a Militech security team. No attempt is made on that house, much to the Team’s dismay. It is filled with ‘evidence’ that the group is exactly who they say they are: business investors from Russia.
Doc Freeman and Dr. Harcourt continue to work out the dynamics of the new A.I. cyberbrain. The Doc gets an idea. He orders his most trusted lawyers to prepare patent applications on this improved technology. Richard Roman and Dr. Arabella have failed to patent it. Doc Freeman will strike first and acquire the rights.
In the Canadian countryside that night, Jean and Geoff lie in bed together. The fixer feels the biogen shudder. “Are you all right?” he asks.
The girl nods and replies, “I’m just a tad terrified.”
This takes the young man by surprise. “It’s hard to believe that anything could frighten you.”
“Fear is a constant companion,” she says and then adds with a laugh, “So, I might as well learn to live with it.”
Geoff hugs her tightly and kisses her on the forehead. Three months ago he would never have believed that anyone could get him to invest in this mad scheme to ‘save the world’. It is then he realizes that Natty has a way of making him care.
***
Friday, March 22, 2052:
In the early morning, Ricco calls Natty with Disney’s offer. For the right to negotiate first for the new A.I. cyberbrain, Disney agrees to provide a soft extraction for Doc Freeman’s chief assistant, Dr. Jason Harcourt, and his family, and to provide protection for them. Disney will get to talk to Doc Freeman and have one of their scientists examine the brain they have (the late Pomfret Church). Disney will provide a non-refundable five million pound ‘security’ payment to fund the Team. The Mouse will also provide orbital surveillance assets for the Montana/Wyoming area. The meeting will take place in Ottawa tomorrow just after noon. Doc Freeman says he will be there just before the meeting. He wants to shepherd his new patent filings (based on the new A.I. cyberbrain) through.
Later on that day, Natty gets a bad feeling. The only two people (besides Dr. Arabella Pasha) who understand this technology are standing next to each other in a lab that she has no control over. The cat biogen calls Doc Freeman.
“Hiya Doc is Dr. Harcourt with you now?” she asks.
“Why yes, he’s right here,” Freeman replies.
“Yeah, that won’t do,” she tells him. “You two head to Ottawa right now and meet us there. Just get out of that building, now. Oh, and Doc, get your double up and working right now. You also might want to give him a raise.”
Next: Episode 26 – Flight 412 From Quebec City is Now Arriving …