I have a question on the Rate of Fire (ROF) of the Militech Cyborg Rifle.  Where it first appeared is in Chrome Book 2, the weapon lists it as ROF of 2.  However, Blackhand's Street Weapons lists it as having a ROF of 20.  One of these entries appears to be a typo, but which one is it?  Anyone know?

As promised her are some thumbnail descriptions of the Edgerunner Team that was put together by the Linden fixer, Remy Marcou, a Creole ex-pat from Louisiana.  Remy is reputed to have strong relations with Mayor Bauer, his veterans and the Gunderson Clan due to help he gave the retreating New Jersey troops and that Nomad Clan during the Long Walk.  The fixer's smuggling contacts were instrumental in helping both of those groups back to the United States.  Mayor Bauer has returned this favor by giving Remy sanctuary in Linden, when it become to hot for the fixer in his native Louisiana. 

 

The 2027 Cyberpunk Team

 

Name	Alexander (Sasha) Smirnov	Height	5’ 7”	Eye Color	Brown
Aliases	Vodka	Weight	150 lbs.	Ethnicity	Russian
Role	Scavenger	Hair	Black	Native Language	English

INT	9	COOL	6	MA	6	Run	18
REF	10	ATTR	5	BODY	6	Leap	4.5
TECH	10	LUCK	5	EMP	6	Lift	60/240

Sasha is an 18 year old transplant from Brighton Beach, NY of Russian descent.  In 2025, he graduated from High School and instead of joining his family’s business, he moved to Linden, NJ to work of the Port Authority docks on the Pralls Island Reach.  In the last year of the 4th Corporate War (2026) his parent’s company is destroyed and his entire family disappears in the fighting.  Misfortune continues to follow the young man as e is laid off by the Port Authority after the war and left unemployed.  He then starts working as a free-lance, independent scrapper in Linden.

 

 

Name	Caitlyn Bezier	Height	5’ 7”	Eye Color	Green
Aliases	Cat	Weight	130 lbs.	Ethnicity	Caucasian
Role	NET Runner	Hair	White	Native Language	English

INT	10	COOL	8	MA	8	Run	24
REF	8	ATTR	8	BODY	8	Leap	6
TECH	8	LUCK	9	EMP	8	Lift	80/320

Cat is another 19 year old transplant from Brooklyn, NY.  Her family moved to Linden in 2016 after Major (now Mayor) John Bauer “cleaned up” the town.  In 2023 she graduates with the first class from the new Linden High School and goes on to attend Union College in next door Elizabeth, NJ the following year.  Tet year her fatter joins Miitech just before the outbreak of the 4th Corporate War.  The following year her older brother also joins Militech and at the end of the year (2025) both her father and brother are reported killed in the fighting.  The following year her graduation with an associates degree in computer technology is tempered by the death of her mother in a car accident leaving her an orphan and alone.

 

 

Name	Fredrik Steinhauer	Height	5’ 11”	Eye Color	Bright Blue
Aliases	Doc / Boston Doc	Weight	190 lbs.	Ethnicity	German-American
Role	Medtech	Hair	Brown	Native Language	English

INT	10	COOL	6	MA	7	Run	21
REF	7	ATTR	5	BODY	7	Leap	5.25
TECH	10	LUCK	8	EMP	10	Lift	70/280

Doc is a 22 year old Medtech from Boston, MA.  He graduated from Boston Latin (high school) and attended Tufts University for pre-med.  While in school, he began volunteering at clinics for the poor.  The 4th Corporate War broke out and the serious fighting in Boston reenforced his beliefs in non-violence.  His Catholic faith was tested when his family was killed in the fighting, but he persevered.  He missed a final exam when he dedicated that time to helping a mass casualty event and wasn’t accepted to Med school. He drifted down the East Coast and settled in Linden where his saved the life of a Gunderson Clan Elder earning an honorary +2 Family

 

 

Name	Ida Ripley	Height	171 cm	Eye Color	Brown
Aliases	Trouble	Weight	56 kg	Ethnicity	Black American
Role	Tech	Hair	Long, straight	Native Language	English

INT	10	COOL	6	MA	6	Run	18
REF	10	ATTR	6	BODY	8	Leap	4.5
TECH	10	LUCK	7	EMP	7	Lift	80/320

Ida is a 19 year old Techie with skills in Weaponsmith, Armorsmith and Drone technology.  She was the only child of a Nomad couple from a small Family of the Snake Nation.  Her Nomad Pack assisted Major Bauer and his veterans in the pacification of Queens, NY, and then with the retaking of Linden, NJ from gang rule.  Her Nomad pack collapsed and she and her parents became static citizens of the new Linden.  As a reward the family received a rent controlled studio apartment under the “Glass Way”.  Ida graduated with the first class from the new Linden High School along with Cat and Stash.  Due to her high intellect and technical skills her parents sent her to the  Newark Technical College where she earned her Associate’s degree.  Disaster struck in 2026 as her parents were killed in a Militech/Arasaka firefight as “collateral damage.  She has inherited the rent controlled apartment.

 

 

Name	Marisol Rojas	Height	5’ 7”	Eye Color	Blue
Aliases		Weight	125 lbs.	Ethnicity	Columbian-American
Role	Nomad Runner	Hair	Blue/Pink	Native Language	English

INT	10	COOL	7	MA	7	Run	21
REF	10	ATTR	9	BODY	7	Leap	5.25
TECH	10	LUCK	7	EMP	8	Lift	70/280

Marisol is a 17 year old vehicle savant.  She is the daughter of the late Diego Rojas, a Columbian who worked with the US military and Michelle Gunderson Rojas, the daughter of Karl Gunderson, leader of the Gunderson clan.  As a young child she joined the Long Walk back to the United States.  The young girl was raised in the Nomad culture and learned her trade from her father.  When the Clan settled in Linden, NJ, Marisol was one of the first Nomad children to attend the new Linden High School. She was two years behind Cat, Ida and Stash.  Her father’s death by a New Jersey bandit gang affected her deeply.  Her mother kept her from traveling and the girl worked in the Clan’s garages.  This and her mother’s new husband drove a wedge between the mother and daughter.  Marisol moved out and got a small combat zone apartment in Linden.

 

 

Name	Timothy Garner	Height	5’ 10”	Eye Color	Brown
Aliases	Stash	Weight	165 lbs.	Ethnicity	American Mongrel
Role	Bounty Hunter	Hair	Brown	Native Language	English

INT	10	COOL	8	MA	8	Run	24
REF	10	ATTR	5	BODY	8	Leap	6
TECH	8	LUCK	8	EMP	10	Lift	80/320

Stash is a 19 year old native of Linden, NJ.  His mother, Amy, is the head Librarian at the Linden Free Public Library, and his father, Jimmy, is a senior supervisor in the town’s Water and Sewer department. Older brother Dicky is a decorated sergeant on the Linden Police Department and younger sister, Melissa goes to Linden High School.  Upon graduation from high school Stash apprenticed himself to Arthur Stanley, one of the few licensed bounty hunters left in New Jersey.  Stash proved himself a capable student to the old bounty hunter and quickly learned the skills of the trade.  While seeing the evil in the world, the young man decided that he would strive to make the world a better place and protect his family.  In late 2026, Arthur Stanley died of natural causes.  To Stash’s surprise his mentor left him his bounty hunter license which was quickly approved by the Linden Police Department.

 

 

Name	Yori Miller	Height	6’ 8”	Eye Color	Brown
Aliases	Jin-Roh Rex	Weight	280 lbs.	Ethnicity	Japanese-American
Role	Solo	Hair	Black	Native Language	English

INT	10	COOL	7	MA	7	Run	21
REF	11 (16+)	ATTR	3	BODY	10	Leap	5.25
TECH	4	LUCK	7	EMP	10	Lift	100/400

Yori is a 24 year old häfu with an Anglo father and a Japanese mother who was born in Seattle, WA in 2003.  He had an unremarkable upbringing and joined Arasaka when he graduated from high school.  This wasn’t due to any affinity for his mother’s ancestral homeland, but rather for the educational perks that that mega-corp offered.  After his basic training, he was assigned to Miami, Florida guarding an Arasaka warehouse.  In his spare time, he attended the University of Miami in a general studies program.  When the 4th Corporate War broke out there was little fighting and he saw no action.  He won his Militech Cyborg Rifle in a card game.  Yori lost his job at the end of the war and drifted around finally settling in Linden, NJ.

 

So here is the rogue's gallery put together by Remy Marcou as he makes his own move to rise up in this dangerous Cyberpunk world.  Up next will be a brief recount of theis Team's first mission.

 

 

I was asked recently by a vfte member what ever happened to this game as he thought it may have died, but no, we are going strong with six players meeting every other week.  We are about to begin our Episode 12 now.  I thought I would post a few updates for anyone's enjoyment who might be interested.  Below is the details about the Cyberpunk Linden, New Jersey to give you all a bit of the flavor of where the Team is operating.

 

Linden – An Arcology City

A Cyberpunk History of Linden, New Jersey

     The City of Linden was the second smallest in area of the Arcologies to be built by the New East Investors Group after the Fort Lee Arcology.  However, its expected occupancy would have made it the smallest.  It was one of the simplest in design and could be built in stages.  Because of that, it was one of the first to have work slowed on it and one of the first to have construction cease.  The plan was to build sixteen 20-story apartment buildings in a square grid pattern to serve as pylons for nine 250-meter radius-interconnecting geodesic domes.  The clear domes would be built with the new lightweight transparent aluminum developed by Dr. Nichols of San Francisco (yes, this is a homage to Star Trek IV, no this is not the cyberpunk future, deal with it!).  Buildings one through four would be built over the New Jersey Transit Shore Line.  The clear front of the arcology would come down along Elizabeth Avenue with the rain station in building number three.  The rail line would remain where it was and a tunnel would be built over it connecting buildings one through four.  Various businesses would be built on the south side of the tunnel facing the inside of the new structure.   Apartments would be built on top of the tunnel.  Where South Wood Street went under the railroad tracks that road would be further depressed and run underground for the length of the complex and surface again at Edgar Road (Route 1).  Access tunnels to the executive parking lots under the tower apartments would branch off of that underground road.  The existing surface road would be made smaller and become a dedicated pedestrian and bike right of way with a small “People Mover” running the length of it.  Some of the original buildings, in particular the old Rail Station, would be kept but the rest would be replaced with low (no more than two stories) businesses with a nineteenth century “small town America” feel.  The remaining area under the “domes” would be parkland and recreational use areas.   

     A Southeast wall similar the northwest one running along the tracks would have business on both sides and front Edgar Road and venerable US Route 1.  The northeast and southwest walls of the arcology would have no buildings other than the supporting pylon apartments.  The northeast wall would run along Woodlawn Avenue to the corner of West Elizabeth Ave and Ziegler Street.  The southwest wall would run from about 350 West Elizabeth Street on a straight line to the southernmost corner of Wheeler Park at South Stiles Street and West Edgar Road.  The two blocks along Edgar Road bounded by Clinton Street and Winans Avenue going back to 10^th Street would be torn down and parking garages for the residents of the arcology, who couldn’t afford the onsite executive parking could park there. 

     There was a lot of opposition to the plan, but the city government was won over by a commitment to cover North Wood Avenue over with a barrel style clear roof from the arcology to Knopf Street and cover the Raymond Wood Bauer Promenade.  Money would also be provided to rehabilitate the businesses fronting North Wood Avenue.  The city wisely insisted that this be built during phase one of the construction.  This unfortunately put the project in the red very quickly and was a major factor in the projects failure.

 

The Cyberpunk Timeline of Linden

1991:  After a five-month delay, construction and clearing of Phase One of the Linden Arcology begins.  The area from Elizabeth Street southeast to Munsell Street is razed.  South Wood Street is depressed, and construction on towers one through eight commences along with the new rail tunnel and station. 

1992:  The first three domes are delayed as the City of Linden insists the promised covered way (or “Glass Way” as it became known) up to city hall be finished.  Buildings one thru four are opened in the summer with great fanfare.  All housing south of Munsell to Cedar Avenue is torn down as the work begins on apartment towers numbers nine through twelve.

1993:  By spring the first three domes are complete and buildings five through eight are opened to public.  Phase Two commences with the groundbreaking for Buildings nine through twelve.  Work begins on the “parklands” under the first three domes.  Work slows that summer as the New East Investors Group moves money the other arcology projects.  By October work stops on towers the number nine and twelve towers.  Crews are moved to the Jersey City Arcologies, which are running over budget and behind schedule.

1994:  Towers ten and eleven are finished and the crews start on the dome between towers six, seven, nine and ten.  Economic Collapse hits and the New East Investor Group is sent reeling.  Work on the new dome slows as work shifts to the walls between Towers one and five, and Towers four and eight. 

1995:  In May the dome central dome is finished.  Additional supports are placed on the northeast, southeast and southwest sides of the dome.  Linden brings the New East Investor Group to court to force them to continue the project.  An out of court settlement is reached as the state puts pressure on the City of Linden to settle.  Only Building number nine is continued with a small crew.  The Group hires local people as part of the settlement to complete the rehabilitation of existing city buildings up the Glass Way towards City Hall. 

1996:  Renovation of “the Glass Way” completed.  Work continues on Building number nine.

1997:  Building number nine is opened, but suffers from shoddy construction.  Work on Building number twelve recommences.

1998:  The shell of building twelve reaches its designed height.  The inside is not finished, and all crews are transferred to the Jersey City Arcology Project.  The City of Linden sues, but the New Jersey State legislature grants the New East Investors Group relief, and the city is stymied.

2000:  The Wasting Plague hits Linden.  City services are overwhelmed.  The people of Linden barely hang on.

2001:  The collapse of the state government in Trenton deals a fatal blow to the city of Linden.  By the fall the Shore Line of the NJ Transit stops running, and the refinery closes.  Survivors start to leave Linden in greater numbers.

2002:  In early winter, the city’s infrastructure collapses, and food riots break out.  Rioters overwhelm what is left of the police department, and the mayor along with half the city council are hung by the Mob.  Anarchy reigns, and the city falls into the “Dozen Years of Darkness”. 

2014:  Major John Bauer, formally of the New Jersey National Guard, who had grown up Linden, finishes working with the Port Authority in the “pacification” of Queens.  He puts together a group of eighty-four ex members of the Jersey Guard many of whom had been abandoned by the Federal Government and forced to join “the Long Walk”.  Almost two thirds of the group was from within ten miles of Linden, and a full score were from Linden itself.  By now the city was just a giant gang hangout that were starting to boldly raid Staten Island.  Instead of moving against Linden itself, the Authority struck a deal with Major Bauer and his men.  The Authority would provide arms, material, and logistical support (and loan of a couple of AVs).  Major Bauer would lead his men into Linden and end the gang problem once and for all.  If successful, the Port Authority would reopen the rail line to Newark/Elizabeth and provide one hundred jobs on the docks to the southeast with subsidized transport on the rail.  An unofficial agreement was reached as the Port Authority needed raw materials, and much of surrounding towns in New Jersey were now mostly abandoned.  They would buy whatever scrap Bauer’s men could bring in to help rebuild New York City, and not inquire too deeply on how and where it came from. 

     After about a month of quiet reconnaissance Major Bauer’s men struck late one cold March Friday night.  Almost five hundred of the gangers and their hangers on died on the “Night of the Blood Red Moon”.  In the week that followed another three hundred people were “tried and executed” by drumhead court-martials.  For the next month Major Bauer’s men ran search and destroy operations against any group in the area that might oppose them.  A number of smaller groups that had acted against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were liquidated also.  On the old “Earth Day” in April the Major declared the City of Linden “restored”.  The families of the Major’s men came and settled in their new city. By summer rail service was restored and the Authority made good on its promise of jobs.  The remaining people of Linden accepted his rule gladly. 

2015:  The new Linden Police Department exterminates all go-gangs (bikers and any motorized groups) within twelve miles of Linden center.  All such groups keep clear of Linden as the police patrol aggressively.

     In the fall Major Bauer was elected Mayor with 86% of the vote for a twelve-year term.  A city council of eight was elected each serving an eight-year term.  Four members of the first council would serve only four years and then could stand for an eight-year term.  There are no term limits for councilman, but the mayor can only succeed himself once.  The mayor appoints the city department heads.  A vote by three quarters of the city council can remove a department head.  The three city judges are appointed by the mayor for life (two criminal and one civil/probate/family).  They can be removed in the same manner as a department head.  A candidate for a judgeship must have a law degree from an accredited law school.  Mayor John Bauer’s brother, Robert (formally Captain Robert Bauer) serves as chief of police.

2018:  Linden becomes the “recycling” capital of the area as scavengers bring their goods there to trade.  The rail link is extended to the Perth Amboy and South Amboy in an effort to bring that area under closer political influence of the Port Authority.

2019:  The Gunderson Clan brings ten old streetcars to Linden and installs a light rail system along Wood Avenue through the arcology (using the uncompleted “People Mover” right of way) across Route 1 and down to just north of Memorial Park.

2020:  Work is started on restoring the old New Jersey Shore line to link the resurgent New York City area with the Jersey Shore Cities, and especially Atlantic City in anticipation of the MagLev coming to New York City.

2021:  Linden’s success is becoming its undoing as more people move there.  Crime is on the rise.  It starts to impact the rail service.  The Port Authority and DMS make a deal where DMS is put in charge of security of the rail line from Linden to Atlantic City.  DMS security forces help stabilize the growing lawlessness in Linden.  This is driven home, when one of the salvage groups, the Munsell Family, is caught “salvaging” a DMS rail supply warehouse.  A combined Linden Police and DMS security task force liquidates the Munsell Clan as an example to other scrappers.  As the Munsell’s were an old Linden family, this example showed that not one was exempt from the “rules”.   

2022:  The opening of the MagLev brings a huge increase in rider ship on the line and a modest growth in business for Linden.  Unlike many of the New Jersey Arcologies, Linden’s remains clear of most outside organized criminal elements thanks to DMS security.  The Glass Way and the businesses there become an almost no hole barred “entertainment” area.  Vice runs rampant as the tough “scrappers” of New Jersey make their homes in the ruined buildings around the Glass Way.  Murder is dealt with harshly, as is open armed robbery.  The place becomes famous for its “Wild West” mentality.

2023:  At Caroline Bauer’s urging the old High School by Wilson Park on West Saint George Street is reopened as a Kindergarten through Grade Twelve School.  The light rail line is extended there.  Both DMS and the Port Authority help with the project.  DMS makes regular contributions to the school in exchange for input into the curriculum.  Caroline Bauer, an experienced educator, is named principle.     

2024 – 2025:  The Fourth Corporate War has almost no effect on Linden except to bring money in from the Edgerunners who call Linden their home.

2026:  Mayor Bauer is up for re-election next year, and rumor has it that someone may try to run against him.

City of Linden – 2027

Demographics

     Linden has survived the Collapse, while most of the towns and cities around it have not.  This is because of its geography, Major (now Mayor) John Bauer, and most importantly its half completed arcology.  The population is about 12,000 people, which is about one third of its 1990 population.  The people of Linden are ethnically diverse, but originally members of Bauer’s group of Long Walk veterans held most of the positions of power.  This is slowly changing. 

     About five thousand live in the arcology, which represents the most desirable place to live.  Buildings one through eight are in good repair.  Buildings ten and eleven are in fair shape.  Building nine is and has always been in poor shape, and its rents (and residents) reflect this.  Building twelve, which was not completed, is partially occupied, but most arcology residents consider this a miniature “combat zone”.  The “Main Street” walkway that makes up the surface part of South Wood Street is finished only to half way under the central dome.  Artificially low rents keep the businesses open so no one has to go to the businesses under the Glass Way.

     About a thousand people live south east of the arcology in the Union Avenue and Liberty Street area, and south of Edgar Road.  Many of the people here work at the tidal electrical generating plan that supplies power to the City of Linden and the rail line that serves it.  The plant was build (and is owned) by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  Linden police (and DMS security) rarely go there.  The people are self-policing and resent strangers (unless they are spending money), and troublemakers, who are quickly dealt with.

     Another four thousand people live clustered around the “Glass Way”.  Most are employed in the “entertainment” and other service industries that support the salvagers.  The organized crime here is local and the police keep out the crime families that run rampant in the other Arcology cities.  These local operations are left alone by the big families due to the diligence of the local police and DMS security, and the fact that it is a very “blue collar” area.  They do not try to attract the “tourist dollar” and compete with the bigger Mobs and DMS Atlantic City.

     Another two thousand people live amidst the ruined neighborhoods in the outlying sections of the city.  These people tend to live in fortified clusters of homes, and most are the workers, who go out and “salvage” the remains of the abandoned communities in the area.

The Economy

     The number one income source for the town is the rail and salvage yard located in the industrial park, which housed the former General Motors factory, just southwest of the arcology across Stiles Road.  Here the Walkers Cooperative gathers all the large items collected and ships them by rail north to the Port Authority.  The Walkers Cooperative is owned by the men and women, who came with Major Bauer to reclaim Linden from anarchy.  Many are survivors of the Long Walk.  The smaller specialty salvage shops, clubs, whorehouses, and gambling dens of the Glass Way bring in the next highest source of income in the town.

     The Port Authority docks in Newark/Elizabeth, the rail line, and DMS represent a significant economic contribution to the health of Linden.  These alone would not be enough to sustain the town however, so the salvagers and the secondary businesses they generate are the most important economic component of the city. 

 

Persons of Interest

Mayor John Bauer comes from one of Linden’s most distinguished families.  That does not mean that the family was rich.  They had been at one time, but had slowly drifted down the economic ladder.  John Bauer went to college on a National Guard ROTC scholarship.  The education of his older brother Mark and two older sisters, Anne and Caroline, soaked up most of their father’s spare cash and credit.  Upon graduation in 1990, the United States Army was beginning its foreign adventure that would become known as the South Am Wars.  John Bauer volunteered to go.  His was good officer, but quality commands went to the West Point and Citadel graduates.  The beginning of his military career was spent working on “hearts and minds” projects.  It was the Army’s attempt to win over the locals by helping rebuild the infrastructure that had often been destroyed by US military action.  This would give him the experience that would become invaluable later in the rebuilding of Linden, NJ. 

     By the time of the Second South Am War his experience and knowledge of the area was invaluable and he was transferred to Special Forces Long Range Reconnaissance Units.  The covert nature of his work contributed to his being “lost” in the governmental reorganization.  Major John Bauer was abandoned, along with his brother Robert, and the two joined the Long Walk home.  On his return home, he found that Linden, NJ had been struck from the map.  His mother and sister, Anne had died in the Wasting Plague.  Rioting gangs had killed his father and brother Mark in 2002.  His despair almost gave way to suicide, but the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recruited him to help end their gang problem in Queens.  The experience in Queens gave him new resolve to “rescue” his hometown from the grips of the gangs that had taken over there.

     John’s friendship with Victor Pulaski, then working with the Port Authority gave him the backing he needed to cleanse his city.  And cleanse it he did, in blood!  Never again would Linden fall prey to gang activity.  He reorganized the city administration, and has ruled the city with a benevolent but iron hand.  As he gazed around at the chaos that still grips America, he has become convinced that only he can keep Linden safe.  He sees his re-election as mayor as the only way to keep his beloved Linden from falling back into anarchy.      

 

Chief of Police Robert Bauer is the younger brother to Mayor John Bauer.  He wanted to be a soldier all his life.  Unlike his brother John, Robert had no patience for school.  The young Bauer enlisted in the United States Army, and served in both South Am Wars.  He worked his way up through the ranks to become a captain in the Special Forces working with the Long Range Reconnaissance Teams.  The combat took its toll, and Robert Bauer is almost more machine than man.  He has at least two cyberlegs and one cyberarm along with a skullcap.  It is suspected he has many more modifications.  His humanity has drifted away over the years and he is almost certainly cyberpsycho.  Chief Robert is not a raving lunatic, but is cold and methodical in all his actions.  He is a dedicated public servant who protects his hometown and will do whatever it takes.  It is this man that zealously enforces the “no gang” policy of Linden.  The chief is intelligent and perceptive.  Anyone in Linden who he perceives is forming a “gang” gets talked to – once.  Out of town gang members, who do not wear any sort of “colors” or gang sign are watched, but not molested unless they cause trouble. 

     The police department has 28 full time officers, 22 part time officers, and 50 reserve officers.  The large reserve force is called up to repel large gang attacks.  It is sort of an “army reserve”.  Most of the police, especially the full timers are ex-military.  They are mostly solos and veterans of the Long Walk.  They are heavily armed and many are highly modified.  Their loyalty to the chief is without question.  They will often overlook the small stuff, but have been known to practice “preventive justice.”   

 

Councilman Ernesto Hernandez is a recent arrival in Linden.  He was born in Jersey City from immigrant Mexican parents and enlisted at eighteen in the United States Army.  It was his intention to make a career in the service of his adopted country, but he was one of the soldiers “lost” by the reorganized Federal Government.  He made the Long Walk back to the United States, and found himself a zip.  Ernesto tried to make a living as a cook, which had been a hobby rather than a vocation until then.  He was moderately successful, but was blocked from any legitimate job by his “lack of citizenship”.  An old army friend from the Long Walk told him of the recruitment by the Port Authority of “special officers” to help pacify Queens and he jumped at the opportunity.  After this he joined Major Bauer and his group to “liberate” Linden.  The young man was appalled by Bauer’s methods, especially in the weeks following the Night of the Blood Red Moon.  He turned down a position in the new Linden Police Department and opened a restaurant in the northwest wall of the Arcology between Buildings Two and Three, which he called Café Tenochtitlan.  The restaurant was a huge hit, and people travel on the trains from miles around to eat there. 

     Ernesto quickly became disenchanted with the direction the city was taking.  He especially disliked the attitude towards Hispanics, who had not served with Bauer that the city government was manifesting.  As the population of Linden grew its Hispanic population came to represent almost 36% of the total.  Finely, in 2023, Ernesto ran for city council.  On the strength of a voter registration drive he led and his service to his country and the City of Linden, he put together a coalition that got him elected.  He has led the council opposition to Mayor Bauer ever since.  It is rumored Ernesto is considering running for Mayor.      

 

Karl “Wrecker” Gunderson is leader of the Gunderson clan.  They are the largest of the “salvager” groups in Linden.  He is a hardy and hale old man in his seventies that leads his extended family on forays to gather whatever materials they can from the surrounding area.  He met John and Robert Bauer on the Long Walk.  He and his three sons were civilian contractors in South America, and were abandoned to their fate.  The three sons brought out their Columbian wives and children along with members of their extended family.  This group drifted around the country for a while as a Nomad group specializing in reclaiming and rebuilding abandoned homes and industrial facilities, until they heard of Major Bauer’s “liberation” of Linden.  Karl contacted his old friend.  Karl’s “family” wanted to settle down.  They were nomads by chance not choice. 

     The two old comrades quickly came to an understanding.  The Gunderson Clan took over the peninsular of land south west of North Stiles Road that was surrounded by the Rahway River.  There they built their compound.  The Gundersons are some of the founders of the Walkers Cooperative, and Karl’s grandson, Javier Gunderson, serves as Manager of the Linden Streetcar Company.  It was this group that brought the streetcars, rails and switching equipment to Linden.

 

Madeline Cho was born in Jersey City to the owner of Seoul Food, one of the most popular Korean restaurants in the Journal Square area of Jersey City.  Her father’s business was condemned to make way for the New East Investor’s Group building of the first of the Arcologies that would become the new Jersey City.  He and his family were promised a new business in the structure.  Until that time, they were “relocated” to temporary shelter.  Well, the shelter became less and less temporary, and in that time Madeline’s mother passed away due to the shelter’s doctor misdiagnosing her condition.  Finally, the section of the arcology that would house the new restaurant was ready, but the father was informed that he had “new partners”.  In fact, the partners would have controlling interest and he was to be no more than a glorified “wage slave”.  Her father immediately got an attorney.  He and his attorney went to a state arbitrator to begin settling the issue’ but neither were ever heard from again.  Her brother tried to hire another lawyer but no one would take the case.  A week later a group of masked men came to the shelter and cut the brother’s throat in front of Madeline, her younger sister and brother.  Another man looked over the three and pointed to Madeline.  She had her hands tied and a bag put over her head.  The last thing she heard was her brother and sister’s screaming cut off by the sound of four gunshots.  She was sold into the sex trade.

     Madeline proved to be a “difficult” employee and was passed from owner to owner until she ended up in Linden at a slave pit of a brothel run by the gangs that ruled the city.  She met John Bauer, when he was reconning the city in 2014.  She provided him with valuable intelligence and set up the leader and two of the lieutenants of Satan’s Rage, the leading gang in town at the time, on the Night of the Blood Moon.  For this service she was given title to the whorehouse she worked in on North Wood Avenue.  The place reopened as The House of Heavenly Delights.  It is a restaurant downstairs and a beautiful brothel upstairs.  She used her connections to quickly corner the drug trade and her friendship with Mayor Bauer to protect her operation.  By 2014 her looks had taken quite a beating (no pun intended).  One of the new “businessmen” coming into town was a young man, named Tony Gesparza.  He got a plastic surgeon he knew to repair the damage of years of abuse.  The budding romance between the two was cut short, when Tony expected Madeline to become his mistress and turn over her operation to him.  Madeline would be subservient to no man.  She threw the money he had spent on her facial reconstruction in Tony’s face in front of his “people”.  That ended their relationship and started the “feud”.

 

“Fat” Tony Gesparza was a wanna-be wise guy from Jersey City.  His father was a local enforcer, who was gunned down while buying his son a cotton candy at a local carnival.  Young Tony never got his cotton candy that day and this has helped cause the eating disorder that gives him his nickname today.  His father died as the Mob abandoned New York City in the wake of the nuking of Rockefeller Center and the collapse of the city government.  In Jersey City it was out with the old and in with the new.  The fall of the New Jersey State government and eventually of Jersey City’s civil authority presented opportunities to the young criminal.  Tony became an independent gunrunner and dealer of illegal cyberware.  His business was small enough not to anger the new local Mob overlords, who were still busy fighting over the carcass that was Jersey City.  The young man’s connections to the now defunct old regime of the area guaranteed the new bosses would not accept him. 

     Opportunity presented itself in 2015.  He became aware of the transfer of weapons and equipment to Major John Bauer’s group by the Port Authority through his own connections.  He offered to help.  Since he was not a member of the Jersey City Mob, Tony slipped under the radar during his security check.  When John Bauer triumphed, Tony offered to invest his life savings in helping bring Linden back on the economic map.  Bauer accepted his offer.

     Tony Gesparza now runs all the vendo-mats in town, and the commercial laundry services.  The “ripper docs” in town all buy their supplies from Fat Tony.  He is headquartered in his strip club, Badda Bing, Badda Boom on the Glass Way.  His “group of associates” is small as he is well aware of the fate of any gang in Linden.  The mayor now realizes exactly what kind of person Fat Tony is, but the old man has mellowed a bit (become more corrupt himself).  Fat Tony also takes every opportunity to ingratiate himself to the political powers in town.  He is the local Mob, but he is independent of the larger groups in the Arcologies to the north.  This makes him “the lesser of two evils” to Mayor Bauer.

     Tony’s main rival in town is Madeline Cho.  She runs the prostitution and most of the drugs.  The two used to be lovers.  Despite their much-touted rivalry, Tony is still in love with her (or rather maybe just infatuated).  Neither side moves against the other.  Any friction is usually in the form of non-lethal fistfights between lower level personnel.        

 

George Muboko is a thirty-three year old DMS executive in charge of the Linden office.  While the title of General Manager is a desirable one he had come to realize that this is possibly a dead end position.  He fled with his family twenty-seven years ago from Liberia and settled in Atlantic City just in time to have all his family except his father and younger brother, Abraham, killed by the Wasting Plague.  His father got a lifetime service job with DMS when they took over Atlantic City.  Young George’s intelligence got him into a school run by DMS, and he has been a company man ever since. 

     His African origins have proved no bar to his rise, but his father’s menial position has served as an impediment to his continued advancement.  Racial prejudice has become easier to overcome than social prejudice.  George has retained his strong respect for family both living and dead that is rooted in African culture.  He has recently married a young woman from Liberia he met through his younger brother, who fought with Colonel “Blackjack” Pershing’s mercenary force in the late Nigeria – Liberia War.  This executive feels his recent promotion to this current position has shunted him off of the path to further promotions.

     George hates Mayor John Bauer and his cabal of ex-military cronies who run Linden.  He suspects that the Mayor and his friends have become just another group of organized criminals stripping the area of valuables for their own profit.  He knows that DMS would love to push its sphere of influence north into the region supposedly “controlled” by the Port Authority.  If he could put in a Mayor and a few city council members sympathetic to DMS and make this a DMS “town”, his star would again be on the rise.         

 

Victor Pulaski is a retired Port Authority employee and chairman of the Arcology Association.  He was born in Linden, NJ in 1953 was schooled here and graduated from Linden High School in 1971.  Victor’s father had fled Poland when the Germans and the Russians overwhelmed it in 1939.  The older Pulaski had joined the Polish Army serving with the British in World War 2 and had jumped with the First Polish Independent Parachute Brigade under General Sosabowski at the Battle of Arnhem.  He was one of the few (perhaps 200) that made it across the Rhine to support the 1^st British Airborne Division.  As an ardent anti-Communist he did not return to Poland after the war, but moved to the United States and married.  He raised Victor with a strong sense of duty and patriotism, which led the young man to enlist in the United States Army and volunteer for Vietnam.  He came home with a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart to a country that did not appreciate his sacrifice.  The following year he got a job with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and spent forty-six years working for them.  Victor knew the Bauer family, and had gone to high school with the late Mark Bauer, who was John and Robert’s older brother.  Victor used his position to help Major John Bauer get the support for his plan to “reclaim” their old hometown.

     Victor Pulaski moved back to Linden and was instrumental in cleaning out many of the arcology buildings of the drug addicts and criminals.  On his retirement from the Port Authority in 2018, he joined the Arcology Association and in five years became its president.  Originally he was one of Mayor Bauer’s biggest supporters, but the growing lawlessness and dependence of the “scrappers” for the economic well-being of the town has given him second thoughts.  He is one of the growing number of people in Linden that feel perhaps it is time for Mayor Bauer to step down or be voted out of office in the coming 2027 elections.  

 

Local Talk Around Town & Rumors

1) The mayoral election campaign is getting nasty.  Ernesto Hernandez is thinking of running against Mayor Bauer, and so is Victor Pulaski.  George Muboko wants anyone, but John Bauer as mayor.  He views the old soldier as the major impediment to a DMS takeover of Linden.  Everyone will need bodyguards and dirty tricksters as the election is shaping up to make Nixon’s 1972 campaign look like an exercise in responsible democracy. 

2) It seems someone is salvaging more than material in Linden.  An illegal body parts ring is rumored to be operating out of Linden.  The parts are very fresh; maybe too fresh.  Someone recognized the tattoo of a loved one, who had disappeared, on the arm that was for sale in an illegal “body” shop that was raided in New York City.  Evidence points back to Linden as the origin.

3) DMS may be hiring free-lance “hit squads” to take out Scrappers salvaging abandoned communities near Atlantic City.  No one knows of any locals who have disappeared, but the rumors persist.  

 

In Closing:

     So, this is the situation the information that our players began with.  I hope to post some basic character information about the characters who have begun this journey.  Stay tuned for more!

 

 

Very interesting, but the basic rules (page 43 of the Second Edition Rulebook states that, "...(the player) doesn't have to put points into all his career skills..."

The Covert Specialist Write-up (on page 93) doesn't change that and only states that you must put at least a +3 into any skill you pick from the Primary skill list & skills from the Secondary list at any level (of course, restricted by any limits put on initial character write-up by the GM of the campaign).

Now, if I were to allow such a character class in our current campaign for a PC, my thought might be to allow a player use Pick-up points to select skills from the Secondary List with a limit of +3 for any skill on that list, if not chosen as a skill from the Career package 40 points.  Of course skills NOT on either the Primary or Secondary List would be under no such restrictions except for the basic ones for the Campaign (1x at 6 [no SA] & 3x at 5 [including SA].

However, at this point, it is all theoretical.     

 

3 minutes ago, senior officer Mikael van Atta said:

I guess the question is relevant regarding our current campaign, but I don't want to base my take on it on that guess.

My motivations here are irrelevant to the question, which is:

 

10 hours ago, Allen1 said:

what can a character's Pick-up points be used to buy?  Both the Primary skills on the list and Secondary skills cover a lot of ground and since they are in the career skill package, I would think those couldn't be bought with Pick-up skills.  Any thoughts? 

 

In regards to the Covert Specialist from Stormfront Book 1 (page 93), what can a character's Pick-up points be used to buy?  Both the Primary skills on the list and Secondary skills cover a lot of ground and since they are in the career skill package, I would think those couldn't be bought with Pick-up skills.  Any thoughts? 

Well, after starting almost 4 and a half years with Cyberpunk 2069, which started as a face to face game in New England, and the last three years as a Virtual game with Cyberpunk 2071, which was played with people from California to Latvia, the story is coming to an end over the next couple of weeks.  The characters have gone from combat zone nobodies to Edgerunners and finally to movers and shakers in this Cyberpunk World.  Some lived, some died, but all good stories must end.  So, time to start over with a new crop of fresh, young wannabes from a dystopian combat zone with nothing to lose.

This story will start in 2027 based on a continuation of an old campaign I and some friends ran years ago.  It uses a timeline very similar to the old 2020 canon except the Fourth Corporate War ran from 2025 to 2026.  The Magnificent Curtis and others foiled Rache Bartmoss' attempt to destroy the NET, Arasaka didn't set off a nuke in Night City and the RED never happened.  All this doesn't really matter since this story will be based around the devastated New York City and the ruined New Jersey Arcologies.  The story starts in the half completed Linden Arcology.  The State of New Jersey still no longer exists as a political entity and any form of civilized order only exists in the few city states that are left.  The old Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is the glue that holds the cities of northeastern New Jersey and the remainder of New York City together, but they act like a large squabbling dysfunctional family.  DMS controls old Atlantic City and is again trying to turn that old Jersey shore destination into an East Coast Las Vegas. 

A hair over ten years ago Linden, New Jersey was saved from rampaging gangs by returning local South AM veterans, who in cooperation with the Port Authority and DMS established some sort of order in this small city.  Linden is now the center for groups of "Scrappers" who range across the abandoned sections of central New Jersey salvaging what they can to help the Port Authority and others in their bid to rebuild New York City and the cities just west across the Hudson River.  Linden is also the connection between the Port Authority's transit lines and the DMS's rebuilt New Jersey Shore Line which carries people to the rebuilt Atlantic City.  With the MagLev extension now connecting Washington, DC and New York City (and soon to reach Boston) tourists from across the country have access to DMS's new shining jewel.  

This will the start point for a new group of young, beginning wannabe Edgerunners tired of eating kibble and living in shabby, rat infested hell holes.  Once we start we will be playing every other Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm on both Roll20 and Discord.  On Roll20 we will be using custom made Character Sheets that make many of the skill use a "one click" action.  (Although autofire does requires a single click for each bullet that hits).  This is not your "everyone is wielding an assault rifle" Night City.  Extensive cyberware and illegal weapons are expensive.  Anyway, if anyone on Views from the Edge is interested in joining us for this new adventure, write a post or drop me a PM if you have questions. 

 

I am implementing two slight rule changes for the upcoming Cyberpunk 2027 game.  First of all,  Education and General Knowledge 1 now allows a character to read and write.  It gives you the equivalent of a grade school education.  Education and General Knowledge 2 remains the equivalent of a high school education, which allows a player to operate a simple computer, so you no longer have to have the skill Computer Use 1 to do so.  The effect of which is to allow a character with a high school education use the skill Library Search without having to buy Computer Use 1.  Of course, the character would still need a computer and access to databases, which was always the case.

    

LAPD is generally a good police organization, but does suffer from under funding as most major city police departments do in a Cyberpunk World.  Also, there has been no evidence to link all of the misfortunes of the Torres family together.  Besides, they are a family of "nobody" criminals"  and the police simply don't have the manpower (or inclination) to put much effort into what is in their mind is a series of unrelated events.  The shootout at the Thirsty Fish may change their opinion of the importance of these "unrelated incidents".  Angel has no police record and is a major stockholder of an important west coast computer and defense firm (B&B Technologies).  He is also fairly wealthy.  This man came back to LA with an important Arasaka official and the chief of the Whyte Hat corporate police, who is also a Reserve U.S. Marshal, in his entourage.  It is true that LAPD is a little sore about the Smash Club riot, but the subsequent investigation found that the redevelopment company had committed the (High) Priority Two crime of Kidnapping in their attempt to seize the building where the Smash Club was located.  This along with the fact that the Cyber Revolutionaries' hit song, Smash for the Smash Club, is in the top 10 nationally and is #2 in LA has changed public opinion to favor the riot or at least the reasons for it.  Also, the police now have Dominic Rivera (Patron #11) in custody and are holding him under a multitude of charges including Manslaughter, Attempted Murder and Aggravated Assault.  The first two charges allows the police a lot of latitude to get the truth out of poor, unfortunate Dominic.  It is clear that the LAPD would love to put Salvador Montel out of business and now you all have delivered them 'probably cause' and a member of his gang that they can deny a lawyer to and put the squeeze on.  Time will tell what comes of this.

J.J. Hunter will be contacting LAPD tomorrow in her official capacity as chief of the Whyte Hat corporate police to look into the interrogation of Dominic Rivera (Patron #11).  Depending on what she learns, she might contact the local U.S. Marshals office.

The Team does have an upcoming legal complication in the fact that Zdravko was arrested for possession of a silencer on his Czar Makarov (and having a shitty attitude towards LAPD who were just trying to do their job).  Your lawyer will be on that first thing in the morning and should be able to spring him quickly.

This brings us to finding a shooting range for a few lessons to allow Angel to improve his handgun skill.  With Zdravko being temporarily detained, Jake will tell Angel he will call the local Arasaka office and get range time for them tomorrow and the next.  This man personally knows the people in charge.

Jamal will arrange for his doctor associate to operate on Miguel tomorrow, May 26th (the day we restart).  If Miguel "dies on the table" the body will be immediately cryogenically preserved; after all "parts is parts" and better when they are a perfect DNA match!  As Jamal will not be doing the operation, he will be available to be s member of your Team in LA.  It would be good to have a medtech in your group and Jamal also has serious Forensics skills (Level 5 with a 10 INT).  He is a phone call and a short Boeing Aircar flight away.  Angel's decision here, if he wants a combat doctor who is also a Navy Seal on his Team.  (OK, there is an obvious answer here, but I have to ask.)

Also, another consideration is getting information on the street.  Angel has NO Streetwise and his knowledge of LA is years old.  However, his father Diego does have good Streetwise which is current.  While it would be best not to expose him publicly, he could probably point you in some useful directions.

Time is important here, but you do have to spend some to gather more information.  It is true that Salvador Montel will be looking into you, but his organization is somewhat crippled by the shoot out.  Also, Angel has far superior resources and money than that local crime boss.  

                   

Here are the order in which things happened to Angel's family. 

1. The police raided Diego and Carmelita's house and found the Blue Glass.  The "crime scene" was then sealed.
2. Miguel was found almost beaten to death in an alley just a couple of days later.
3. Although you haven't discovered which came first, Daniel and Ricardo disappeared along with Rosa and Hector was probably tortured and then killed.
4. Gloria was contacted by the local LA medical clinic and informed that Miguel would be 'streeted' if no one cam to pick him up.
5. Angel and his Team arrive in Los Angeles.  During your visits to various residences of your family, you discovered that Angel's parents' apartment had the police seals broken and someone broke holes into various interior walls while apparently looking for something; possibly more drugs.

It is true that you haven't checked out Miguel's apartment yet, but you can do that next session.  You have only been in town two days, and have gotten a lot done.

The sleazy club owner and Miguel's possible drug connection is named Salvador Montel.  The shoot-out at his club/bar, the Thirsty Fish, has seen his gang devastated, but you don't know how many men he has left.  

Angel's suppositions on what to do next: 

22 hours ago, senior officer Mikael van Atta said:

Where we go from here?

• The most promising lead is to follow the club owner. Sure, he has lost a lot of henchmen, but he himself managed to esacpe, and likely will be hiding somewhere. Let's have Zdravko on the Net, searching for data on this guy. Maybe J.J. could access law enforcement files on him, too? 
• We could also do some footwork and try determining the man's boss. 

This is an excellent idea on how to proceed.  Also,

22 hours ago, senior officer Mikael van Atta said:

J.J. could ask the cop on the parents' case - or the lawyer can check in the files - what exactly (amount & purity) was found in Angel's parents' apartment.

J.J. Hunter is a Reserve Federal Marshal and a certified corporate police person.  If she could find enough evidence for a kidnapping and convince the local chief U.S. Marshal in LA that this is an important case, then she could start an official Federal investigation into this and all related matters.  Succeeding in doing this would give you all more tools for your investigation.  So far the LAPD considers Daniel and Ricardo just a couple of petty thugs out being up to no good.  Hector's death is being classified as a homicide, but is being investigated as a family dispute gone bad with Rosa as their prime suspect.

Jamal has finished his examination of Miguel and suggests an operation to relieve the pressure on your twin brother's brain.  This isn't Jamal's specialty, but he does know a doctor in Night City that could do the operation.  This might bring him out of the coma eventually, but it is not a sure thing.  He can schedule that quickly, if Angel wishes.  

Now, as to Armed Guard #2, getting up and shooting you on the round after you threw him, the man was trained solo, who beat your initiative and has higher Reflexes than you.  His drawing and shooting used actions on his round, which added to the reasons he missed you.  Angel is a techie with little combat experience and NO combat boosts.  As to head protection, Angel might consider getting an armored (SP10 max) 'do-rag'  https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=do+rag+meaning&bshm=bshqp/1 , this will help a lot.  Still, without any skinweave or such, a 12mm headshot with a high damage roll will probably be fatal.  Although it couldn't be helped in this case, techies should stay at the back of combats.  

As to getting handgun lessons, what you would have to do is spend part of the next two days going to a local range with Jake and he can get you the six IPs you need to be within striking distance of Handgun 4.  You then can use some Bonus IPs.  Finding a range in LA would take Zdravko just a couple of minutes at the most.

Well, it won't take long for the word to get around on the street that Miguel's twin brother is in town looking into what happened to his family.  Jake's little display of Gun Fu prowess, his Arasaka affiliation, along with J.J. Hunter being a U.S. Marshal/licensed corporate cop of White Hat and Zdravko, a Whyte Hat special teams employee, backing up Angel is going to rumble through the local crime community.  You can be sure Salvador Montel did spend the rest of that last night trying to find out who you all are.  There is a good chance he soiled himself when he discovered just who you all are and who has pissed off!

      

OK, here are my decisions, now that you have asked.

Cyberarms: Go with the 'covert one to start.  Angel isn't as famous as 8-Ball, but a cyberarm is Angel's signature.

How "twinny" are Angel and Miguel:  They are identical twins, but do dress differently. 

Got it, Mateo and that mess is on the back burner for now.

Gloria doesn't like Hector, but she doesn't hate him either.  He apparently makes Rosa happy, and that is what really matters to Gloria.

As to Milspec firepower, Jake isn't fitted for a Whyte Hat EMA-1 suit of armor.  It would take a few days to get him one.  He also prefers his FN-RAL.  Jake is also primarily a pistoleer.  The man is an Arasaka Te & Gun Fu Master and is also one level short (a 7) of being a Kenjutsu master.  

I think we are ready to go here.  

 

About Mateo, given Angel's original disposition (Feel About People: Wipe them out and give the place over to the cockroaches) & (Personality Traits: Ex mode – Guilty/Depressive; in mode – Malevolent; Rebellious, insomniac, radical) what does that say about the personality of your "best friend"?  Also, what kind of person runs off with "Best Friend's" girlfriend and child?  Just saying.

I do agree that Angel's family situation needs his immediate attention.  As to his plans for Sunday:

1. B&B Technologies is standing by to help.  Unfortunately most of their best people (including Samantha) are in the Sultanate of Riau working on their biggest project to date.  Suzy is in Europe under contract, but she has been notified.  They will extend whatever NET help they can.  More on this below.
2. As to back up,  B&B Technologies has just finished a month long training session for Zdravko.  He is currently unassigned by Whyte Hat which has agreed to have him assist Angel in Los Angeles.  This company will also get you a good lawyer they know to assist you in Los Angeles.  He/she will be available on Monday, when you get to LA.  Whyte Hat will also send along J.J. Hunter, who is a trained investigator.  She has Authority as chief of Whyte Hat's corporate police and as a Reserve U.S. Marshal. Angel is contacted by Suzy, who tells him, she has asked her old friend (and Angel's Martial Arts teacher), Jake Kitagawa to help, so he is available to go to Los Angeles.   
3. Miguel's hospital bill is currently at €1,300 and will be €1,400 by Monday.  
4. Rue is currently assigned to Wells, NV.  It is Jamal, who is at San Morro, and he is available to come to Los Angeles.  His suggestion is that he bring Miguel back to San Morro immediately (Monday) for a complete examination and diagnostic review.  Jamal has privileges in all the major Night City hospitals.  You can make a decision on Miguel's treatment when he gets the results of his examination.  
5. Gloria doesn't really know much about what Rosa, Daniel and Ricardo have been up to.  After all, she left Los Angeles because of the family's frequent run-ins with the police.  Daniel and Ricardo are sharing an apartment together but are still scamming and stealing their way through life.  Rosa has a boyfriend named Hector and they live together.  Rosa doesn't like Hector because he is also petty criminal, but he does treat your sister well.  Gloria does have a recent picture of Rosa and Hector together.  She has their addresses and phone numbers, but no one answers.  

It would be best to take the Boeing Aircar.  It does have a Whyte Hat pilot, who can fly it back to Night City with Miguel and Jamal.  If you want it to return to Los Angeles, you will need a short term parking place.  Once in LA, Angel has the finances to rent whatever he wants.  

A moderate hotel would do, but a more secure corporate hotel might be better, your choice.  All of your corporate permits will be good.  Your Whyte Hat permits are good for milspec weapons.  Jamal has both Whyte Hat and Arasaka permits.  Any milspec weapons should be kept in locked cases and remain at the hotel.  Armored clothes and handguns should be fine walking around.  Monoknives should be sufficient in areas where firearms aren't allowed.  However, you will probably mostly be in Combat and Moderate zones.  

If you feel you need anything else a supply run could be done quickly.  Your Boeing Aircar will remain on stand-by where ever you decide to park it.        

 

10 hours ago, senior officer Mikael van Atta said:

Yup, a Hitchcock'esque "start with an earthquake".

Well, I'll take that as a compliment! As to the rest of your post:

• Does it sound "fishy?"  Well, that is for you to decide.
• The newspaper article says their car went into the Colorado River and the police pulled it out of the river.  "Sources" reported that Marcia and Antonio died in the crash.  It is a small article of something considered of little importance.
• I've deducted the €10,000 euro from your spreadsheet
• Gloria doesn't know if your parents have a lawyer.  They are expensive, especially for a crime like this, and last she knew the parents were just about broke, as usual.  Angel would know that the courts could reject bail being paid by someone they consider might be involved in the crime.  A family member paying the bail is usually fine, especially if it were Angel.  After all, he is now wealthy and respected.  As for the rest: "no comment".
• As for Miguel, well, you will have to arrange for that in game. 
• As to Rosa, Daniel and Ricardo, sounds like a trip to LA, which you are planning to do.
• Gloria has some ideas about a business, but she is a little preoccupied with her family falling apart to deal with that now.  

What I need to know (as GM) is what exactly is Angel going to do starting on Sunday, May 23rd.  How is Angel getting to LA?  Is he going alone?  Is Angel contacting anyone else before you go? Where is he (or they) going to stay?  What is Angel bringing (generally)?

Your Hitchcock reference maybe more applicable than you realize.  None of the plots of his movies were simple.

 

OK, here is a bit of an intro for Episode 76!

 

On May 22nd, Angel comes back from his inpatient Intensive Care Therapy.  There is a report from the private detective he hired to find Marcia Catano the mother of his son, Antonio.  The detective found his former best friend, Mateo Barba, who ran off with her living in Willow Valley, Arizona.  Mateo reported that Marcia and Antonio were killed in a car accident last March 27th when their car went off the road and into the Colorado River.  The detective has a newspaper account of the accident.  His itemized bill for €10,000 is included.

Also, there is a frantic message from his sister Gloria, who lives in Night City.  She needs to talk with him as soon as possible.  I assume Angel calls her right away.   Their parents, Diego and Carmelita Torres were arrested for possession with intent to distribute a Class C Drug, Blue Glass.  They are waiting in jail for their trial in Los Angeles.  Their bail is €125,000 each.  Gloria has been trying to contact your older brothers Carlos and Antonio, but they are driving truck somewhere in the east.  The two are now independent truckers and she hasn't been able to find them.  Also, she hasn't been able to contact Rosa, Daniel and Ricardo, who are still in Los Angeles.  Even worse Angel's twin brother, Miguel, is in a coma at a public medical facility.  There is no money for his care and this facility isn't equipped for long term care.  Gloria has been notified that they are going to put him on the street this Monday, May 24th.  He will no doubt be scooped up by organ harvesters.

Now maybe this all sounds a bit harsh, but the backstory I have says: family are Urban criminals (well maybe not all), family status = in danger and family tragedy = family scattered to the wind due to misfortune.  So here we go!  

 

This all sounds good.  I didn't think that the RPG-A would be fired from the Scorpion FAV.  The last two HE rounds for that weapon would probably be best saved for the final defense of Grinnell.  Its 6 meter blast radius (for 6d10) should be able to temporarily plug any breakthrough gap in the defensive walls being rushed by the Raffin Shiv. 

 

Suzy has no intention of calling out individual targets for each person to fire on.  She has said that your RPG-A attacks are to stop the column, albeit temporarily, and get their fast movers to chase you.  Right now, she is busy helping Zdravko get the Microtech Attack Drone airborne and preparing her sniper nest.  There is only 10 minutes between when the Raffin Shiv come into view and when your target, the second convoy group (the one following the small vanguard), will be in position.  She has given you your assignment and is depending on you to make the immediate tactical decisions regarding which vehicles to hit. 

If 8-Ball and Cossack are successful in this assignment and we draw the Raffin Shiv fast movers into our trap, then the plan gets fluid.  Phase Two has this mobile group supporting the Armadillo in its attempt to damage and slow down the Raffin Shiv further.  This could mean making sure the Armadillo doesn't get flanked, or slashing at the Raffin Shiv column's flanks, if the opportunity arises.  The standing principal here is that we don't get too bogged down in a stand-up fight until we reach Grinnell.  As J.J. Hunter put it (quoting the late great Muhammad Ali), "We dance like a butterfly and sting like a bee!"

On other points, yes, the anti-material rifles should do well against the lighter vehicles.  As a note, 8-Ball has 4x RPG-A rounds total, one in the tube and three reloads.  Two rounds are HEAT and two rounds are HE.  The HEAT will do better on any armored on vehicles and the increased blast radius of the HE will do better against soft targets.

 

The 40mm grenades for the underbarrel GLs on the Militech Mk IV (revised) or the FN-RALs number three HE rounds per person.  Rusty still has his M-212 Grenade Launcher (he picked it back up in Saint Louis) and has a total of 16 HE grenades and 8 HEDP Grenades.  If 8-Ball asks nice, he may part with a couple. 

Assume what you want about the weapons that the "heavily armed" Raffin Shiv have, you have all the information you will get on that for the moment.

As to armor, there are lots of helmets (with googles of some type), mostly soft armor, but a couple have what could be battered Metal Gear.  If the vehicles are covered, you can't tell how many people are in them.  The Scorpion FAV and AMT Baja Blaster carry 3 people each, the GMI Dust Devils have just 2 each.  The motorcycles all have single riders.  You can't get an accurate total number of the Raffin Shiv, but that number is definitely on the high side of the original estimate, if not a few more.   

 

Now that a plan has been decided upon, the Team will be able to deploy into the end of the storm and reach their assigned ambush points (A, B & C) and hide themselves and their vehicles as planned.  When the Dust Bowl Reavers (the Raffin Shiv) appear there will be no telltale dust clouds or tracks from the Team visible.  

At 7:00 am, Suzy uses the satellite uplink to contact Whyte Hat Headquarters and requests aid. It is too early to tell what that aid will be.  She also transmits Cam Newfield's story of the situation to DMS and a request for assistance to the Kansas State government.  Zdravko launches the Bumblebee Rotor wing drone and from a high altitude scans for the Raffin Shiv.

At about 7:10 am, Zdravko sights the approaching Raffin Shiv column coming from the northwest down Interstate 70.  It is moving at roughly 30 mph (48 kph).  It is moving slower than expected as sand and dust have blown across the highway. 

The column has five parts:

Vanguard:

• 1x Scorpion FAV
• 12 motorcycles

 

About 100 meters behind; the second part of the column:

• A Combat Big Rig (Tractor Trailer) with about 10 heavily armed men riding on top of the trailer
• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon
• A pick-up truck with two heavily armed men in the back bed
• A 2 & 1/2 ton truck with a canvas cover on the back
• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon
• A Nomad "Big Bus"
• A pick-up truck with two heavily armed men in the back bed
• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon

     A Flanking force guarding the sides in close in formation (shifting)

• 2x Scorpion FAV
• 2x ATM Baja Blasters
• 7x motorcycles

 

About 60 to 80 meters behind; the third part of the column

• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon
• 2 & 1/2 ton truck with a canvas cover on the back
• A Big Rig (Tractor Trailer)
• A pick-up truck with two heavily armed men in the back bed
• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon
• A Nomad "Big Bus"
• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon
• 2 & 1/2 ton truck with a canvas cover on the back
• A pick-up truck with two heavily armed men in the back bed

A Flanking force guarding the sides in close in formation (shifting)

• 2x Scorpion FAV
• 1x ATM Baja Blasters
• 3x GMI Dust Devils
• 7x Motorcycles

 

About 60 to 80 meters behind; the fourth part of the column

• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon
• A pick-up truck with two heavily armed men in the back bed
• 2 & 1/2 ton truck with a canvas cover on the back
• A Nomad "Big Bus"
• A Big Rig (Tractor Trailer) with a flat bed trailer and carrying a light plane
• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon
• A pick-up truck with two heavily armed men in the back bed
• 2 & 1/2 ton truck with a canvas cover on the back
• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon

A Flanking force guarding the sides in close in formation (shifting)

• 1x GMI Dust Devil
• 1x ATM Baja Blaster
• 7x Motorcycles

 

About 60 to 80 meters behind; the fifth and last part of the column

• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon
• A pick-up truck with two heavily armed men in the back bed
• A Big Rig (Tractor Trailer)
• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon
• A Nomad "Big Bus"
• 2 & 1/2 ton truck with a canvas cover on the back
• A pick-up truck with two heavily armed men in the back bed
• A wasteland car with some sort of heavy weapon

A Flanking force guarding the sides in close in formation (shifting)

• 1x ATM Baja Blaster
• 1x GMI Dust Devil
• 7x Motorcycles

 

The drone must stay up high and away from the Raffin Shiv column because it isn't that small and could be spotted.  The heavy weapons on the Wasteland cars look to be a mix of heavy machineguns and harpoons.  Also, Zdravko is to park the Bumblebee in hover mode and launch the Microtech Attack Drone to be ready for his attack run on the trailer carrying the light plane.

The second part of the column which is the one that is to be fired on by 8-Ball will be in position 10 minutes after this.

 

 

Episode 74 – Showdown in the South

 

 

At the Cyber Revolutionaries show in Miami they unveil their new song, Down With Lowndes!  This outrages the Alabama governor and his courts declare the Team murderers and put a bounty on their lives.  The bounty hunters strike the night before the Tallahassee show, but the Team is ready and drives them off.  The bounty hunters fire on the Tallahassee police and mistakenly murder six innocent civilians.  This turns the rest of the Dixie Regional Committee against him and Braxton Lowndes is forced to rescind his death warrants.  The band finishes up the Dixie leg of their tour and heads west. 

The show in Kansas City is being held in old Kansas City, Kansas, which has been seized by Missouri.  An angry resident convinces Celestine and the band to “rock against” this injustice and the concert touches of a riot.  The band quickly flees to the next show in Topeka, Kansas where they are greeted as heroes.  While on the road to Denver an electrical / dust storm forces them to take shelter in a small Kansas town.  There they run afoul of some Raffin Shiv.          

 

Background

This Team was originally put together by Martina Lupescu / Vargas, who the members who thought she was a rich Romanian ex-pat.  In reality, they discovered she was up and coming Drug Lord (or Lady?) connected with South American Alliance.  In the end, they learned that she was actually cooperating with the C.I.A. to kill other Drug Lords who she found out had murdered her father.  Marty got her revenge, but it cost her to lose her life in the process.

On return to the United States, Mitzi reorganized the Team under the name Whyte Hat, which was the company founded years ago by the fixer’s first team.  Whyte Hat has flourished and is now a regional security / paramilitary company with offices in Night City and Wells, Nevada.   

 

Dramatis Personae

8-Ball (Richard Miller – Don’t call him Dick) [Covert Op 5 (Solo 5]:  He is a former member of the Seattle Chapter of the Chrome Berets, a gang of military posers that practice urban combat tactics often with paintball guns and hired themselves out as “ringers” to corporate paint ball teams.  He left his gang on good terms and is seeking to become a serious solo like his hero, the late Morgan Blackhand.  His first experience in Night City made him an ‘honorary’ member of that gang’s local chapter and earned the deep friendship of all of its members.  He also acquired a serious girlfriend, Mia Byrnes, a NCU college student and daughter of a deceased South Am Wars veteran and they are now married.  8-Ball sports a Mohawk in the fashion of many U.S. paratroopers from the Second World War.

Cossack (Stefan Petrovych Chernenko) [Panzerboy 7]:  He was a Ukrainian smuggler who made himself a pain in the ass to Interpol which pursued him relentlessly for the past several years.  He lost a cargo belonging to a powerful Ukrainian mobster, Vyacheslav Morozov, who wished to take the loss of his goods out of Cossack’s hide, but his now deceased boss, Martina, assassinated the mob boss instead.  His secret work in Colombia has led to the U.S. government arranging for the release from prison of his imprisoned girlfriend, Celestin Antonescu. 

J.J. Hunter [Authority 7 (Combat Sense 4)]:  Jayleen Blackhawk Hunter is the daughter of a Greek immigrant father and a Choctaw mother.  Both parents were college professors, but J.J.’s interests lay elsewhere.  After a brief stint in the Army, she joined the U.S. Marshal’s Service which eventually led her to work with Whyte Hat in their mission to re-open Interstate 80 through the Nevada Outback.  When the Marshal’s service loosened its ties with Whyte Hat she accepted Mitzi’s offer to head up that company’s new but small Corporate Police Force. 

Paulie Malkov [Interface 7]:  This man is a Shoshone Native American from the Duck Valley Reservation on the Idaho / Nevada border recruited as part of the growing cooperation between that tribe and Mitzi’s Whyte Hat.  He is the newest member of the Team.   

Rue Perla [Medtech 9]:  This former Army medic came to Night City to visit her friend 8-Ball from Seattle and hooked up with the Team when it was working for Martina Vargas.  She survived that dangerous mission and was rewarded with a chance to get her medical degree, which she has done.  The young woman continues to serve in the U.S. Army Reserve and the Nevada State Guard.  The new doctor signed up with Mitzi’s Whyte Hat and along with Dr. Jamal Hemings, helped found a small hospital in Wells, Nevada.  She is also a veteran of the 2072 Christmas Tour.

Zdravko Milinkovic [Interface 7 (Combat Sense 4)]:  This man is a refugee from Serbia and the ongoing brush fire wars in that region.  He is a combat veteran of a now destroyed and scattered Serbian militia, who has now become a NET Runner with a specialization in drone warfare and combat.  He is a new hire for Whyte Hat. 

 

The NPCs

The Cyber Revolutionaries Tour:

Celestin Antonescu [Rocker / Poet 7]:  She is an ethnic Romanian from the Ukraine, who was imprisoned for years for anti-government activity.  On her release she joined her boyfriend, Cossack, in the United States and is beginning her career as a Rocker replacing Loco Skysinger as the lead vocalist of the Cyber Revolutionaries.  

  

Cassie Banes [Techie 4]:  She is the bassist for the band who grew up in the 88^th Street neighborhood of Nigh City.  Her brother Tom Banes was an original member of Mitzi’s first team that was destroyed by Marco Baronti.

Donny Clark [Vehicle Zen 4]:  The man’s true passion is music, but he is still a (more than) competent driver.  Another original member of the band and denizen of the 88^th Street combat zone area in Night City, he is currently the only male member of the band. 

Kessie Ado [Scrounge 4]:  The daughter of Nigerian immigrants ended up as a scavenger around the 88^th Street Neighborhood.  She fell in with Mitzi, Suzy and Cassie which led her to the rest of the band.

Susan ‘Suzy’ Barnes [Solo 6 (NET Tech 4 / Interface 3)]:  She is a former corp kid whose family was destroyed, and ended up working as an underage stripper in a sleazy combat zone club.  The late Night City mob boss, Marco Baronti, put a bounty on her head after she had witnessed some serious criminal activity by the man.  LEDiv scooped her up, faked her death hid her in Federal Witness Protection.  On her return to Night City, she finished her education at Night City University in Computer Science.  Her former fiancé left her a substantial fortune which has grown considerable and the young woman is now very wealthy.  She has embarked on a new career as an actress, model and musician with her old friends the Cyber Revolutionaries. 

Nancy Chang [Fixer 6]:  Nancy is Universal Records president, Jack Masters, right hand woman.  She is assigned to handle the most bands and tours for her boss.  She is well known to the Cyber Revolutionaries since she was in charge of the 2072 Christmas Tour with two other bands.  She is a genius for generating publicity for the bands under her win.

Rusty Walker [Jury Rig 7 (Combat Sense 4)]:  Rusty is a U.S. Army veteran turned techie who has become one of the rising sound engineers in the music business.  He also was with the Cyber Revolutionaries on the 2072 Tour and the Battle for Rachel against the Desert Devils.  The man served as Cossack’s machine gunner as the two tore through and disrupted two of the attacking Raffin Shiv.  The pairs actions were videoed live across the country.      

Skip Hansen [Vehicle Zen 4]:  Skip is a new hire by Universal Records whose job it will be to drive the Armadillo RV carrying the Paulie while he runs the drones to cover them while on the highway.  8-Ball and Rue will also ride in this vehicle.  His young man joins the Team in Newark when they leave Manhattan.

 

The Action

Thursday, February 25, 2077:

Donny and Kessie, who were visiting Kessie’s aunt and uncle in Havana, Cuba fly to Miami in morning.  8-Ball and Cossack drive to the airport to drop off sabotaged armor, pick up resupply from Whyte Hat along with Jesse Wayne, who will be the Team’s new solo, and the two band members arriving from Havana.  Kessie and Donny arrive first.  While in the cargo terminal packing the Armadillo, they see a news report featuring Suzy.

Surf’s up on the beach and Suzy very publicly goes to do some surfing.  Zdravko acts as her bodyguard with Skip driving.  She is somewhat mobbed by local medias who only want to talk about the gunfight with the Alabama State Police. 

[GM Note: Suzy has secretly arranged for the media to be tipped off that she will be at the beach.] 

She hands out videos showing the Alabama State Police allegedly planting drugs in the tour vehicles and identifies the officers involved.  She then suggests that maybe Governor Braxton Lowndes was behind this to bolster his own failing rule in Alabama.  She calls on the Dixie Regional Committee and LEDiv to begin an investigation on his criminal administration.  When asked for comment on the Alabama governor’s demand that she and the band be arrested, Suzy ends interview by saying, “Governor Braxton Lowndes can kiss my perfectly toned ass!”

During the day, investigators from the Florida State Police come to interview the Team about the shooting incident with the Alabama State Patrol.  The Florida State Police are given copies of the video files but are told that Federal authorities have the originals.  Suzy doesn’t mention that she handed them to J.J. Hunter who is “unavailable as she is under sedation recovering from her wounds”.  The band is closeted in one of the hotel rooms working on a new song.  

NEWS Item:  Airbourne mercenaries from Lazarus attack the hijacked zeppelin and attempt an assault on the top of the airship.  Ricardo Vincent responds by jettisoning the bottom second class under level into the sea.  This scatters the freshly landed troops on the top.  The Haitian Air Force scrambles to fight off the mercenary attack.  This causes huge diplomatic incident.  The crippled airship comes down softly in Haiti afterwards. 

The scheduled show at the Club Del Sol in Miami goes off.  A huge crowd shows up and the show is good.  Celestine and Cassie have written a new song for the occasion: Down with Lowndes! The crowd starts to chant this refrain for the arrest of Governor Braxton Lowndes during and after the show as they leave. 

After the show, an employee of the club brings a note backstage.  It is from Cam Newfield, a DMS media from Night City that the Team knows, who has been in the audience for the show.  He wants to talk with the band and the Team.  He proposes on following the tour for the rest of the run and wants access back stage.  He reminds them that he has been helpful in the past, and he will be following them anyway for the rest of the tour.  The band is fine with it, but the Whyte Hat security says they will consider his request.  After all he does work for DMS that just tried to extract both Celestine and Suzy.   

***

 

Friday, February 26, 2077:

On the drive from Miami to Tallahassee, the tour vehicles are escorted by two Florida State Police cars.  Half way on the drive to Tallahassee on a lunch stop, Nancy Chang tells 8-Ball that the hotel has put the Band and Team on two floors.  She told them that she considers this a security risk, but they didn’t take her seriously.  She hints that maybe 8-Ball should call them.  8-Ball does that and uses his Reputation to get the members of the tour to be put on the same floor of the hotel.    

Early Evening NEWS Item:  Alabama announces capital mass murder guilty findings against all of the Team’s security, the Universal drivers and Suzy.  Second degree murder charges and warrants are filed against the rest of the band.  Alabama has released edited footage from the Team’s previous video release purportedly showing the Team firing first on the Alabama State Patrol.  Bounties will be paid to any registered Bounty Hunters.      

The Team and especially Suzy and J.J. get a visit from Florida LEOs, LEDiv and the U.S. Marshals Service about the shootout with the Alabama State Police in the Florida Panhandle.  J.J. Hunter turns over original video files to LEDiv and U.S. Marshals.  Suzy has a small portable video camera installed on the hotel roof and runs a line down from the roof to the two room corner suite occupied by 8-Ball and Paulie.  She worries that the hotel security system can be hacked from the outside.  There will be a Tallahassee policeman in the lobby and one more outside on patrol, but the roof which an AV could land on has only a hackable security camera.  The Team’s newly installed camera up there can’t be hacked through the NET.

With the faked Alabama footage out there, Suzy believes that Governor Braxton Lowndes will strike tonight, before Federal authorities can debunk the faked Alabama footage with the original video they now possess.  The Team agrees and, with the judicious use of sleep inducers, everyone will be ready and up all night in full armor with weapons at the ready.  They also get permission from the hotel to disable the security cameras on their floor.

***

 

Saturday, February 27, 2077:

Suzy’s fear turns out to be true.  In the early morning, two quiet spinners drop off an Alabama Team of Bounty Hunters to attempt to kill/capture the Team & Band at their hotel in Tallahassee.  Another pair of bounty hunters put the Tallahassee policeman outside to sleep with sleep paintballs and move into the lobby to do the same to the officer stationed there.  Unfortunately for them, the Tallahassee police department assigned another officer to be in the lobby. 

Meanwhile, two Teams of six men each come down the stairs from the roof to strike the Team and the Cyber Revolutionaries.  The Team is ready and covering the doors exiting the two stairways down on their floor.   However, the bounty hunters are unaware that their targets are now only on the third floor, so one group of the bounty hunters enters the fourth floor and goes to the rooms that some of the Team is supposed to be.  They shoot the sleeping guests in the rooms that have now been re-rented, while the second group enters the hall on the third floor right into the Team’s prepared ambush. 

Of the first four bounty hunters entering the hall, three are killed instantly, the last is mortally wounded and is busy expiring messily on the floor.  The last two of that six man team take cover in the stair hallway.  It is at this point the bounty hunters on the floor above discover their mistake before entering more of their target rooms and realize that their intel is faulty.  After successfully putting the outside patrol policeman to sleep, the two whose job it is to secure the lobby fail to drop the first policeman in the lobby on their opening paintball shots.  They are immediately taken under fire by the second officer who is shooting to kill.  A very brave front desk person pops up with a shotgun and the two bounty hunters there go down, badly wounded.

The bounty hunters they have walked into a trap and there is NO reward if they are dead, so they immediately retreat to the spinners waiting on the roof.  The two on the third floor flee, but not before Rue seriously wounds one running away.  Zdravko dispatches the mortally wounded bounty hunter in the hall probably out of concern he is “faking the seriousness” of his wounds.  The whole shootout is over very quickly with a number of the defenders not even firing their weapons.  The two spinners lift off with the remaining eight bounty hunters and flee back to nearby Alabama.

The Tallahassee police respond quickly.  Cam Newfield is in the hotel and quickly gets his story out to DMS News about the brave defense of the Team and the killing of six innocent sleeping guests on the fourth floor by what is apparently murderous thug-like bounty hunters from Alabama.  Cam’s claim is confirmed when the two survivors from the lobby attack are identified as part of a certified team of Alabama bounty hunters here to execute the warrants on the Whyte Hat Team and the Cyber Revolutionaries.  The police seal off the hotel, so Cam Newfield and DMS get the excusive first hand report on this story which knocks the Haitian zeppelin hijacking from the top of the news cycle.  Cam’s reporting paints the Team in a very good light. 

Florida authorities increase security around the band and hotel.  They are furious at the deaths of six innocent civilians by the bounty hunters.  Two of the dead are Florida residents, but the other four are from Georgia and connected to the ruling elite of that state.          

Morning NEWS Item: The State of Florida and the Dixie Regional Committee rejects the Alabama charges and orders the arrest of the identified Alabama State Patrol on multiple charges of Murder(or the death of Usman), Attempted Murder and Drug Trafficking.  The U.S. Marshal’s had the drugs given to them by the Team in Pensacola tested and they are an exact chemical match for Black Lace confiscated by the Alabama State Patrol eight months ago.  They further announce that any Bounty Hunter attempting to collect a bounty on the Team will be considered guilty of First Degree Murder and subject to summary execution.  

The State of Georgia and Universal Records come to a security agreement and the Georgia State Patrol will provide a security escort.  The Band is elated!

Evening NEWS Items:  1) United States demands the extradition of Ricardo Vincent to face high jacking and murder charges. 2) “Bootleg” version of Miami performance of Down with Lowndes (courtesy of Rusty, who is enraged at the death of his friend, Usman) is exploding across the Dixie Region and going national.  

The show in Tallahassee, FL goes off and again another huge crowd shows up.  The Cyber Revolutionaries are energized and deliver another great show.  Rusty’s recording of the Miami debut of the band’s new song, Down With Lowndes, is all over the Southern local underground radio stations and even creeps into the commercial music stations.   Celestine turns the concert into a demonstration against  Governor Braxton Lowndes and his “criminal administration”.  The crowd exits the show chanting the song title and the impromptu demonstration marches down the street.  However, there is no major violence against the city.  Due to the killings and the attack on the Tallahassee police in the early morning, the police’s sentiments are mostly with the crowd.   

***

 

Sunday, February 28, 2077:

Morning NEWS Item: Alabama drops all the charges against the Cyber Revolutionaries and Whyte Hat personnel. 

The tour’s drive from Tallahassee, FL to Atlanta, GA gets a large Georgia State Patrol escort.  The Alabama State Patrol has, in the past, violated Georgia’s sovereignty, but unlike Florida, they have the means and will to act decisively against any interlopers.    

***

 

Monday, March 1, 2077:

NEWS Item:  Riots break out in Port au Prince in support of Ricardo Vincent and the small US consulate is overrun.  Three Marines are killed before the Haitian National Guard free the diplomats.

Governor King Gardner of Georgia makes a speech in the afternoon decrying the actions of certain “out of control members” of the Alabama State Police.  He doesn’t blame Governor Braxton Lowndes for any of the incident.  He holds up the upcoming Cyber Revolutionaries Concert in Atlanta as an example of his enlightened administration.  Gardner is an astute and wily politician.  He sees the national mood turning against the Dixie region and wants to ride it out by maintaining his carefully crafted public façade that Georgia is a peaceful and somewhat progressive member of the that region.        

Tonight, is the scheduled show in Atlanta, GA.  It is sold out, of course.  The band is warned privately to keep their rhetoric to a minimum.  Also, they are NOT to sing Down With Lowndes, or they will never be allowed back in the state.  In a surprise move Celestine answers, “All right, we will not sing Down With Lowndes.”

There is a huge Georgia State Patrol presence at the show and the crowd is loud and enthusiastic.  The band is comes back onstage for an encore as the crowd won’t leave.  Celestine says to the crowd, “Well, we do have a new song, but we have promised not to sing it.  However, we didn’t promise noy to just play it; perhaps you know the words.”

The Cyber Revolutionaries then play Down With Loundes and yes, the crowd knows the words and sings along.  Immediately after the song ends the power to the band’s sound system is cut off and state officials end the show.  The crowd exits peaceably singing the song’s refrain, but no violence erupts.

***

 

Tuesday, March 2, 2077:

The tour drops off all their vehicles and they head to the MagLev station for their trip from Atlanta, GA to Saint Louis, MO.  The officials in Georgia are happy to see them leave and despite the band keeping their word about the song, they are sure they will never be welcomed back.  Today’s trip is uneventful since security on the MagLev is tight.   

News Item:  Louisiana Attorney General announces the arrest of several NOLA police officers for kidnapping, murder and running a prostitution ring.  The U.S. Marshals Service is credited with breaking the case.  The Team isn’t mentioned. 

***

 

Wednesday, March 3, 2077:

Whyte Hat sends Jesse Wayne his 7.62 minigun, Suzy’s personal Microtech Attack Drone along with some more needed equipment.  Universal Records sends a new driver for the tractor trailer and the tour picks up new vehicles for the western leg of the trip.  The new big rig’s tractor has a “cow catcher” on the front to clear any attempt to block the road in front of them. 

NEWS Item:  Haiti officially turns down the U.S. request for Ricardo Vincent’s extradition.  The U.S. breaks off diplomatic relations with Haiti. 

The scheduled show in Saint Louis goes over great.  The Cyber Revolutionaries’ new album is now #19 on the national charts and the single Smash for the Smash Club is #5!  The live single, Who’s the Bitch Now, breaks the top 100.  

***

 

Thursday, March 4, 2077:

The tour makes an uninterrupted drive from St. Louis, MO to Kansas City, MO with their new vehicles.  The tractor-trailer is now in the lead and the Armadillo which still brings up the rear of the convoy is equipped with a 40mm Auto GL in its mini-turret.  They arrive at the hotel in Kansas City.

8-Ball and Cossack are doing a security check of the hotel floor they are on after dinner has long been delivered to the tour’s rooms.  One of the carts hasn’t come out of a room where band members are staying, and this makes them suspicious.  8-Ball knocks on the door and Donny Clark opens it a little.  8-Ball asks if everything is all right.  Donny says yes and the band is having a meeting.  The guitarist quickly closes the door ending the conversation.  Despite being suspicious about the situation, 8-Ball remembers that the band has been quite insistent about their privacy so he can’t push this.  Instead, Cossack knocks on the door a few minutes later and again Donny answers.  The Ukrainian tells the guitarist that he has to talk with Celestine (his girlfriend) about some private things immediately.  Of course, Donny lets him right in and closes the door quickly.  Inside the room the band is sitting around listening raptly to the waiter who delivered the food.  From the snippets of conversation, Cossack can pick up as speaks with Celestine, the young man is talking with the band about the recent history of Kansas City.  This is the tail end of the conversation and soon Jimmy (the waiter) leaves with Suzy who walks him to the elevator flirting with the young man all the way.  

[GM Note:  The location of the show in town is in what used to be Kansas City, Kansas, but during the Collapse, Missouri seized this city from the State of Kansas which couldn’t prevent the takeover.  Many locals and some gangs are violently opposed to the illegal take-over of Kansas City, KS, and Jimmy was here to get information to Celestine and the band about this and to ask her to champion their cause.]

NEWS Item:  The South AM Alliance’s military wing headquartered in Bolivia pledges to defend Haiti against “Yankee Aggression” and promises to transport their Toussaint L'Ouverture Brigade back to Haiti to defend that country. 

***

 

Friday, March 5, 2077:

The plan is for a scheduled show in Kansas City, MO and then drive to Topeka, KS.  However, the show is being held in old Kansas City Kansas, which Missouri seized.  Celestine and the  Cyber Revolutionaries do champion the return of this part of Kansas City back to Kansas onstage.  The band is hot and Celestine makes a high Charismatic Leadership roll.  This touches off a ”Freedom Riot” after the show.  Nancy Chang sees the riot develop and has everyone pack up the tour gear quickly.  The convoy is on the road for the next show in Topeka twenty minutes before Missouri authorities show up to “have a word” with the band.

***

 

Saturday, March 6, 2077:

When the Cyber Revolutionaries arrive for their scheduled show in Topeka, KS, the state capital, they are greeted by a cheering crowd.  News of them championing the return of stolen Kansas land has made them popular with much of the population in this state.   The crowd is positive and energized which inspires the band.  The show is a hit with the locals and the band are treated like heroes and champions by the Kansas crowd.   

***

 

Sunday, March 7, 2077:

The tour begins its drive to their next show in Denver, CO, but a huge combined dust and electrical storm closes in going west to east along Interstate 70 and is predicted to make the Interstate impassable so the Team stops in the small town of Grinnell in western Kansas.  Ecological collapse has devasted western Kansas and the once fertile soil has been blown away leaving a new “Dust Bowl”.  This and bands of roaming Raffin Shiv have destroyed many of the small towns along this Interstate.  The many dust storms often cover the highway and the state is forced to send giant sweepers down the roads under the protection of what is left of the Kansas National Guard to keep that road open.  The old town of Grinnell has been abandoned and what is left of its former residents have built a very small walled settlement about 300 meters south west of the now ruined Grinnell interchange on Interstate 70 just off Gove County Road 30.

The convoy pulls off the Interstate to take refuge in the new town of Grinnell.  Outside the small settlement’s adobe brick walls, they see a sign telling them to stop at a building labeled ‘The Bar’ if they want to enter the town.  Across the road from that establishment is an old CHOO station with a sign outside saying out of fuel.  At the CHOO station there are a bunch of bikes parked with five shifty looking Nomads standing guard.  8-Ball, Cossack and Zdravko go into the Bar to get permission to enter the town.  Others in the convoy quietly get their firearms ready, just in case.

The three walk into The Bar and see about 15 more sketchy looking Nomads seated inside with some kind of meeting going on at a table at the back of the room with a Nomad speaking with what may be three townspeople.  Most of the Nomads have long guns lying about and are drinking.  One of them standing near the meeting at the back of the room has an Ingram MAC 10  at the ready.  All three Team members sense the tension in the air.  8-Ball and Cossack see two of these “Nomads” have old Desert Devils symbology on their dress and one has a Montello Madmen symbol.  Zdravko, being from Serbia, doesn’t recognize any of the insignias on these “Nomads”, but both 8-Ball and Cossack realize that this is probably a Raffin Shiv gang.

A very nervous bartender tells the three Team members, “You should leave, this is a private party.”

The three start to step back, but 8-Ball and Cossack are recognized as they are famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) killers of Raffin Shiv.  They are well known for having destroyed the Desert Devils and Montello Madmen.  Weapons are drawn and the battle is on.  8-Ball and Cossack open fire on the Raffin Shiv close to them and prepare to run outside, but Zdravko charges in to go hand to hand with the closest enemy.  The Serb doesn’t realize the danger that they are on.  The Raffin Shiv get off a few ineffective shots as a number go for their long guns.  8-Ball and Cossack can’t pull back now because doing so would immediately end in Zdravko’s death.  8-Ball tosses a Flash-bang grenade in the center of the room and drops a good number of their opponents.  The Raffin Shiv outside open fire on the tour vehicles and Jesse Wayne returns fire with the 40mm AGL.  That, along with rifle fire from others, makes short work of the outside enemy.

Inside both 8-Ball and Cossack make good use of what cover is available and start dropping a few more of the Raffin Shiv, who can’t bring to much of their firepower to bear without hitting their own people.  However, after a couple of rounds the Raffin Shiv spread out and move to bring maximum firepower to bear.  At this point Suzy appears at the front door with her H&K 418 Assault Carbine and mows down four of the closest Raffin Shiv about to overrun the three Team Members inside.  This, along with the fearsome reputation of 8-Ball and Cossack and sound of battle outside, which is clearly going against them, make the remaining Raffin Shiv inside bolt out the back door.  The Team doesn’t pursue since they don’t have their long guns and these Raffin Shiv escape.  Of the fifteen inside The Bar, six are dead, four are wounded and/or unconscious and five escape.  All five Raffin Shiv outside are dead and the old CHOO station is wrecked. 

The three “townspeople” at the back of the room turn out to be the Grinnell town council who were negotiating with the Raffin Shiv to preserve their town from the approach of a couple of hundred members of this Raffin Shiv group who are supposed to arrive in town in the morning.  The town council members also recognize 8-Ball and Cossack and look upon them as the possible saviors of their town that they have been praying for.  However, there is no time to waste as the storm is beginning to hit.  The town elders order the gates open to shelter the tour from the coming storm which has now arrived.

Once settled inside the walls, the Team speaks with the locals to get as much information as possible on the approaching Raffin Shiv horde, which call themselves the Dust Bowl Reavers.  Unfortunately, they don’t know too much.  These Raffin Shiv number somewhere between 130 and 200.  They have some mortars, large trucks, bikes, dune buggies, other off-road vehicles, cars with some “big weapons” on them, and they have a single engine light plane.  This aircraft has been known to toss small bombs on targets, call in the mortar rounds as well as doing general scouting.

Grinnell has a population of 114 packed into a variety of two story adobe brick buildings, but not all of them are occupied.  The townspeople have suffered under Raffin Shiv raids.  Only 5 men and 3 women appear to have enough skill for a stand-up fight.  There are 14 other men and maybe 12 women, who are willing to fight and know which end of a gun to point at the enemy.  There aren’t nearly enough weapons to arm them all in the town, but when the arms taken from the Raffin Shiv are distributed, all 34 townspeople who are willing to fight can have at least a pistol.  The town has 5 small vehicles, but there is a Scorpion Fast Attack Vehicle, and an AMT Baja Blaster along with 3 operational Nomad Long Rider motorcycles captured from the Dust Bowl Reavers. The Team also learns that there were five of the Raffin Shiv inside the town’s walls, but they fled west on foot towards Oakley, which the locals describe as a small “bandit” town, after the shootout in The Bar.  The Raffin Shiv that fled the fight in The Bar headed east.

With the storm now over the town, there is no way to contact the outside world for help until it passes in the morning.  That is when the main body of the Dust Bowl Reavers should arrive in Grinnell.  The only other possible source of information on this group is from the four prisoners they have, but these people refuse to even speak.  Torture isn’t an option for both moral and practical reasons, so the Team gets down to formulating a plan for the town’s defense.  Several options are considered, but finally the Team comes up with a plan.

Part of the Team will ride out with fast moving vehicles and meet the Dust Bowl Reavers before they reach the Town of Oakley in the west to thin them out and get more intelligence on their composition and numbers.  This group should consist of the captured Scorpion FAV driven by Cossack with Jesse Wayne and his 7.62 minigun mounted on it.  8-Ball will also be onboard with the RPG-A and his assault rifle.  All will be in their EMA-1 armor.  The AMT Baja Off-Road Blaster will go with them driven by one of the Grinnell locals with Suzy and Zdravko armed with their anti-material rifles, assault weapons and two drones.  This group will leave early in the morning before the storm has fully dissipated along with the Armadillo driven by Skip with Rusty manning the 40mm AGL and J.J. Hunter with her assault rifle, which will form the second phase of the defense.  Suzy will guide them with her Data-Tel NavStar which is programmed with all the maps for the tour’s travel route.  The GPS function is now useless with the storm, of course, but it does have the Team’s current position in Grinnell programmed in.  By using the inertial mapping functions, Suzy can lead the three vehicles through the storm to the positions that have been marked to set up the first two phases of this defensive strategy.  The three vehicles will proceed down Interstate 70 to the ruined interchange where old Gove County Road 18 used to cross the Interstate (this is just south of the old, now destroyed, Western Plains Energy complex).  There all three vehicles will exit the road and the Armadillo will hide behind the ruins of the bridge on the northeast side to be ready for Phase Two of the Defense.  Suzy will lead the two remaining vehicles across the area to the north and drop a signal repeater for the drones along the way.  The Scorpion FAV to set up out of sight of the Interstate about 3 kilometers northwest of where Interstate 70 turns east.  Cossack should be driving as he will be the rabbit pulling Raffin Shiv into a kill zone.  Zdravko and Suzy will set up sniper nests on the north side of the small valley to the east of there with their weapons, the satellite uplink, the Bumblebee Rotor Craft and the Microtech Attack drone.  The AMT Baja Blaster will hide over the rise we are on under a trap. 

Phase One:  The electronic interference is traveling west to east so it will clear the part of the Team set up to the west before the town of Grinnell.  When this advance group is clear of the interference, Suzy will contact Whyte Hat Headquarters in Wells for assistance through the satellite uplink.  8-Ball can request this, but that request will go through the chain of command and will need multiple approvals before it can be acted on.  Suzy can simply order it to be done.  As 8-Ball suggested Cam should use some of the footage he will take the evening before, put together a story and an appeal for help to authorities for assistance, which Suzy will transmit to DMS and the Kansas state government.  The story should stress that the Team is all in the Town of Grinnell and there should be no mention of this sally force.  Zdravko will launch the Bumblebee Rotorcraft with its extensive surveillance set-up and begin to watch the Interstate 70 for the advancing Raffin Shiv.  As soon as the electronic interference clears Paulie will take over that role.  Hopefully, the signal repeater that was dropped earlier will allow that to happen sooner. 

When (and if) the Raffin Shiv are seen moving down the road,  Zdravko will put the Bumblebee in high altitude hover mode and launch the Microtech Attack Drone.  Ignoring any recon force sweeping ahead on the road, when the main body of the enemy convoy appears 8-Ball should fire one or two rounds from the RPG-A on one of the larger leading vehicles to slow or stop the column.  8-ball needs to let himself be seen in his Whyte Hat marked EMA-1 armor.  At this point and Cossack needs to pick him up quickly and drive back over the small hill there.  Zdravko will use this distraction to sweep in from the east with the Microtech Attack Done and target their light plane which the locals say they often haul with them.  The plane should be easy to spot and is a top priority target.  The Serb should then get that drone out of there and once it is 500 meters from the enemy activate its return program.  It is equipped with a simple inertial navigation program so it will return to its cradle which will remain in Grinnell.  Once it arrives in Grinnell the 40mm Grenade Launchers need to be reloaded so it will be ready for Phase Two.

The Raffin Shiv should send a large force of their fastest off road vehicles after the Scorpion FAV to stop any continued attacks on their column  We should also try dress up our Scorpion as something like the slower AMT Baja Blaster, so they think they might have a chance of catching Cossack.  Kessie to scrounge around town for stuff to disguise the Scorpion, and find some appropriate colored tarps to hide 8-Ball and the AMT Baja Blaster.  Cossack will then lead the pursuit force into that small valley (depression) just south of our sniper positions.  Zdravko and Suzy can hide so we won’t be seen.  Once in the valley, Suzy will start firing on the lead vehicles.  Her electrothermal M-90 will tear them apart, so some should detach from the main group to deal with a single shooter.  Once they get into Zdravko’s range he will open fire and we will either take them out, or have our local guide drive up and we will run.  Depending on the numbers, once the two groups are separated, it will be up to Cossack to continue leading them on a merry chase, or turn around and let Jesse tear them up with his 7.62 minigun.  Once this action is decided, if we are still alive, we will be ready to support Phase Two.

Phase Two:  The Raffin Shiv main column will continue on.  It might divert to Oakley, but we probably won’t be that lucky.  It should continue on down Interstate 70.  That is where the Armadillo comes in.  Once the main body of the convoy passes Kansas Route 14 (about 3000 meters from them), the Armadillo should pull out of concealment into a hull down position and the Grenade Launcher should open fire.  The Raffin Shiv could try to rush the Armadillo which would tear up the attackers.  In that case, the Armadillo should retreat to Grinnell with the 40mm AGL firing all the way and J.J. Hunter laying down fire from the rear firing ports.  They should stop as often as possible to make the Raffin Shiv reform and attack again and again.  Hopefully, the Scorpion and the AMT Baja Blaster will be free to come in and harass the flanks of the Raffin Shiv attack. 

The other Raffin Shiv option would be to stop, pull back out of range of the 40mm AGL and deploy their mortar teams to force the Armadillo from its protected position.  If that happens, it will buy us more time, which is the whole point.  Also, if they deploy their mortars, the Microtech Attack Drone should be reloaded and can be used to destroy one or more of their tubes; that is if either Zdravko and I are still alive.  At this point, we should have been able to move the Bumblebee to the area and Paulie can give us real time reports on the advancing enemy.

Either way, Phase Two is a delaying action to force the Raffin Shiv to expend time and resources dealing with us, before they reach Grinnell.

If the Raffin Shiv haven’t been discouraged and fallen back, then we go on to Phase Three.

Phase Three:  We defend Grinnell from inside the walls.  Hopefully we have destroyed or damaged enough their equipment to make breeching the walls difficult.                                        

This is the Team’s plan and hopefully it will buy enough time for help to arrive or cause enough casualties among the Dust Bowl Reavers to make taking the Town of Grinnell impossible.

 

 

Next: Episode 75 –  Raffin Shiv Rumble!

[ic]  There should be a position located around spot A that is about 310 meters from the road, which the locals confirm, where you could hide down with a light covering of dust to help.  The Scorpion FAV can hide just over the back of the reverse rise which would keep it out of sight and be able to get to 8-Ball about 10 seconds after his first RPG-A shot.  It will take a few rounds for the column to react so, yes,, he can get a second shot off while Cossack rides to pick you up.  The Ukrainian can throw up a lot of dust and sand as he comes from you, so it should provide cover form return fire as 8-Ball jumps in.  I don't think they will be able to afford to let you get away, so pursuit is very likely.  Just lead them into my (Suzy's) field of fire.  Some will have to turn on me.  When they close Zdrakvo should have finished his attack run with the Microtech Attack Drone on the trailer where we expect the plane and sent the drone back to Grinnell on auto pilot.  He will then open up with his M-90 and we should tear them to bits.  At that point, we "release the Kraken" and  Cossack can turn and have Jesse op up with his 7.62 mini-gun.   Let us let those two do what they do best.  We do as much damage as we can without exposing ourselves to the main Raffin Shiv column.  They will be the responsibility of the Armadillo and Phase Two.

Once we have done as much damage as we can, we should be ready to support the Armadillo by protecting its flanks.  However, by then the battle may be very fluid so we should be ready to adapt.  When we are in retreat to Grinnell after the Armadillo is forced form its position at the ruins of the highway overpass, , then it might be good for both the the Scorpion FAV and the AMT Baja Blaster to meet up.  8-Ball and Suzy should switch places.  Zdravko should get to the town to continue running attacks with the Microtech Attack Drone and 8-Ball needs to rally the defenders.  When the Raffin Shiv come into view then the townspeople's courage could waver.  Also the satellite uplink needs to get back to town.  Once the town is out from under the electronic interference from the storm it will be our lifeline to the outside world.  We should ask Cam Newfield if he knows how to work it.  I don't think anyone else does besides Suzy.

[GM Note:  He does and will.  BTW, Cam Newfield is there for most of the final planning sessions as he does have full access.  However, he wasn't there for any discussion about torturing the prisoners for information or 8-Ball's and J.J. Hunter's personal discussions. 

Oh, yes, excellent idea to camouflage the AMT Blaster during the initial 1st Phase fight with a proper colored tarp and some local sand & dust.

Suzy will be asking for air support from Wells and reinforcement by airdrop, if these assets are available at the moment.   We won't know for a while, but we will be very busy anyway.  Regardless, I think we have a plan!   

  

OK, children, can we stop the squabbling and get back to the plan?  I did spend a good deal of time trying to blend everyone's suggestions into a coherent course of action that might have some chance of success.

Suzy has been for the most part been listening quietly, but finally has something to say.  She thinks 8-Ball’s three-phased defense concept is a good one, but, as is, will only prolong inevitable defeat and death.  She suggests combining that with Cossack’s idea of “riding out’ and bringing the battle to them.  We cannot wait to let them get near Grinnell, before engaging.  Five Raffin Shiv escaped to the west and into the storm.  These men are experienced in dealing with the local weather so they have probably survived.  The farthest they might have gotten is the Town of Oakley, but probably not even that far.  If we wait and set up a skirmish line close to the town to fall back to defend it, the survivors of yesterday’s fight will most likely inform the incoming Raffin Shiv that elements of Whyte Hat are here.  After that we can expect a methodical attack from any (or many) directions.  Unlike the fight at Rachel, Nevada we do not have a vehicle with unchallenged speed (the GevHog) and the “Death Blossom” system of the Whyte Hat Armadillo.  Those were the two key elements to or victory there.  If the Raffin Shiv arrive at the town unchallenged there is little we can do to stop them with a close in defense.  I don’t believe they will launch a motorized infantry attack.  I think they will encircle the town and use their artillery assets to breech the walls in several locations and perhaps reduce any building inside to rubble.  Yes, we can fight a battle through the town and might last until help arrives, but only at the cost of many dead and the town in ruins.  This is hardly “saving the town”.

I suggest expanding 8-Ball’s three phase defense as follows.  We need to ride out with fast moving force and meet them before they reach Oakley to thin them out and get more intelligence on their composition and numbers.  This group should consist of our captured Scorpion FAV and the AMT Baja Off-Road. Blaster.  This group will leave early in the morning before the storm has fully dissipated along with the Armadillo, which will form the second phase of the defense.  I have my Data-Tel NavStar with me and I have it programmed with all the maps on our travel route.  The GPS function is now useless with the storm, of course, but it does have our current position in Grinnell programmed.  By using just the inertial mapping functions, I can lead these three vehicles through the storm to the positions I have charted to set up the first two phases of this defensive strategy.  We will proceed down Interstate 70 to the ruined interchange where old Gove County Road 18 used to cross the Interstate (this is just south of the old, now destroyed Western Plains Energy complex marked A on the map below).  There all three vehicles will exit the road and the Armadillo will hide behind the ruins of the bridge on the northeast side to be ready for Phase Two of the Defense.  I will lead the two remaining vehicles across the area to the north and drop a signal repeater for the drones along the way.  I want the Scorpion FAV to set up out of sight of the Interstate near the spot marked B.  Cossack should be driving as he will be the rabbit pulling Raffin Shiv into a kill zone.  The 7.62 mini-gun should be mounted on this vehicle with Jesse Wayne on the trigger.  I want 8-Ball as the third man in this vehicle with his assault rifle and the RPG-A.  We need to ask if some of the locals have area knowledge, good driving skills, and if this person would be willing to drive the AMT Baja Off-Road Blaster.  Zdravko and I will ride in that vehicle, and have the satellite uplink, the Bumblebee Rotor Craft and my Microtech Attack drone.  We will set up at the point marked C on the rise overlooking the lower areas to the south,  My custom M-90 can range that entire small valley.  There we will both set up sniper nests and the AMT Baja Blaster will hide over the rise we are on or under a cover, if we can find one in town. 

Forward Deployment for Phase 1 & 2 of the Defense of Grinnell, Kansas

Phase One:  The electronic interference is traveling west to east so it will clear us where the advance group is set up to the west before the town of Grinnell.  When this advance group is clear of the interference, I will contact Whyte Hat Headquarters in Wells for assistance.  8-Ball can request this, but that request will go through the chain of command and will need multiple approvals before it can be acted on.  I can simply order it to be done.  As 8-Ball suggested Cam should use some of the footage he will take this evening and put together a story and an appeal for help to authorities for assistance, which I will transmit to DMS and the Kansas state government.  The story should stress that we are all in the Town of Grinnell and there should be no mention of this sally force.  Zdravko will launch the Bumblebee Rotorcraft with its extensive surveillance set-up and begin to watch the Interstate 70 for the advancing Raffin Shiv.  As soon as the electronic interference clears Paulie will take over that role.  Hopefully, the signal repeater I dropped will allow that to happen sooner. 

When (and if) the Raffin Shiv are seen moving down the road,  Zdravko will put the Bumblebee in high altitude hover mode (if Paulie can't control it yet) and launch the Microtech Attack Drone.  When the main body of the enemy convoy appears (ignore any advance force sweeping ahead on the road) 8-Ball should should fire the RPG-A on one of the larger leading vehicles to slow or stop the column.  8-Ball needs to let himself be seen at this point in his Whyte Hat marked EMA-1 armor.  Cossack needs to pick him up quickly and drive back over the small hill there.  Zdravko will use this distraction to sweep in from the east with the Microtech Attack Done and target their light plane which the locals say they often haul with them.  The plane should be easy to spot and is a top priority target.  The Serb should then get that drone out of there and once it is 500 meters from the enemy activate its return program.  I have equipped it will a simple inertial navigation program so it will return to its cradle which will remain in Grinnell.  Once it arrives in Grinnell the 40mm Grenade Launchers need to be reloaded so it will be ready for Phase Two.

I want this initial attack to shout, “We are Whyte Hat!”

I believe they will send a large force of their fastest off road vehicles after the Scorpion FAV.  Tonight, we should also try dress up our Scorpion as something like the slower AMT Baja Blaster, so they think they might have a chance of catching Cossack.  Ask Kessie to scrounge around town for stuff to disguise the Scorpion, she is a genius at finding stuff.  Cossack needs to lead them into that small valley (depression) just south of our sniper positions.  Zdravko and I can hide so we won’t be seen.  Once in the valley, I will start firing on the lead vehicles.  My electrothermal M-90 will tear them apart, so some should detach from the main group to deal with a single shooter.  Once they get into Zravko’s range he will open fire and we will either take them out, or have our local guide drive up and we will run.  Depending on the numbers, once the two groups are separated, it will be up to Cossack to continue leading them on a merry chase, or turn around and let Jesse tear them up with his 7.62 minigun.  Once this action is decided, if we are still alive, we will be ready to support Phase Two.

 

Phase Two:  The Raffin Shiv main column will continue on.  It might divert to Oakley, but I don’t believe we will be that lucky.  It will probably continue on down Interstate 70.  That is where the Armadillo comes in.  Skip will continue to drive it and Rusty will man the 40mm AGL.  J.J. Hunter will ride with them to defend the vehicle against any of the Raffin Shiv who might have survived the storm.  Once the main body of the convoy passes Kansas Route 14 (about 3000 meters from their position), the Armadillo should pull out of concealment into a hull down position and the Grenade Launcher should open fire.  The Raffin Shiv could try to rush the Armadillo which would allow the 40mm AGL to tear up the attackers.  In that case, the Armadillo should retreat to Grinnell with the 40mm AGL firing all the way and J.J. Hunter laying down fire from the rear firing ports.  They should stop as often as possible to make the Raffin Shiv reform and attack again and again.  Hopefully, the Scorpion and the AMT Baja Blaster will be free to come in and harass the flacks of the Raffin Shiv attack. 

The other Raffin Shiv option would be to stop, pull back out of range of the 40mm AGL and deploy their mortar teams.  The mortors with a foot infantry advance is the most cost effective way to force the Armadillo from its protected position with minimal casualties.  If that happens, it will buy us more time, which is the whole point.  Also, if they deploy their mortars, the Microtech Attack Drone should be reloaded and can be used to destroy one or more of their tubes; that is if either Zdravko and I are still alive.  At this point, we should have been able to move the Bumblebee to the area and Paulie can give us real time reports on the advancing enemy.

Either way, Phase Two is a delaying action to force the Raffin Shiv to expend time and resources dealing with us, before they reach Grinnell.

If the Raffin Shiv haven’t been discouraged and fallen back, then we go on to Phase Three.

 

Phase Three:  We defend Grinnell from inside the walls.  Hopefully we have destroyed or damaged enough their equipment to make breeching the walls difficult.  There are only two outcomes here:

1:  We replay the Battle of the Alamo and die a glorious death, or

2:  We replay the Battle of Bastogne and bask in victory.

 

In regard to one of 8-Ball's previous suggestions, yes, we should equip the best trained locals with weapons and armor.  If we find a local to drive the AMT Baja Blaster, I will give him the National Guard armor I got in Pensacola.  That leaves four other National Guard sets.  I will point out that Rusty is deserving of one of these.

 

Suzy believes that this plan combines the best of all suggestions and has the best chance of success.                                       

• Agreed on the NO torture of the Raffin Shiv.  I only brought this up as it was a viable option, but honestly, it would be a bad idea and take up too much time that you don't have. 
• None of the townspeople are weapons experts and they haven't seen a lot of the gang's vehicles.  Some of the cars have "big mounted guns", but that is all they know.  When pressed, they don't describe any tracked vehicles.  None of these people ever wanted to get close to them.
• The estimates you got were 120 to 200 (see top of this page).  
• Yes, they will be coming from the west, probably down Interstate 70 which is the only road that can support heavy traffic.

As to the rest of your ideas for defense, I am waiting for Cossack to chime in.  (I sent him a PM asking for his input).  Suzy will, of course, have her own ideas, but she is waiting for everyone else's input.  However, she hasn't made any faces or rolled her eyes listening to 8-Ball's ideas.

   

You have all the information about the Raffin Shiv that the townspeople can give you.  Anything else will have to come from your prisoners.  They are exceptionally uncooperative, which begs the question: How far are you willing to go to get anymore intelligence?  The Scorpion Attack Vehicle and the AMT Baja Off-Road Blaster were unarmed but did have primitive pintle mounts that appear used, so they can mount some weapons.  The truck hauling the trailer is a base Komatsu-Peterbuilt KP-10 with a "cow catcher" in front to break through road blocks.  The tires are run flat and windows have armored flaps.  The added weight has slowed the top speed to 80 mph, and the driver feels that this added weight has probably effected its off road handling.  It doesn't have any weapons mounts, but does have a top hatch on the cab.

The terrain is flat and dusty, but there is some more 'folded' terrain about 5 miles east of Oakley close to the Interstate where that road travels southeast until it turns due east.  Concealment could be difficult except for single people in camouflage armor.

I made a few tactics rolls, but please note that dice rolls will NOT give you the answer to your current dilemma.  They will give you insight however.

1. You don't know.  A major factor here will be, do the Raffin Shiv know you are here?  More importantly do they know if it is Whyte Hat here.  If they do, they will NOT underestimate you.  This will dictate their plan of attack.  Five Raffin Shiv did flee to the west which is the direction the main body is coming, but they did flee right into the storm. 
2. You are making assumptions here.  This group has obliterated several other towns before.  Tactically they will need a base to operate from in this area, but you know the Town of Oakley just to the west is already an outlaw town.  
3. You really don't have any idea on the true value of the walls, but they can be ground down.  Depending on setting up a static defense as your first line to meet the attack is tantamount to suicide.  Some might survive, but their will be a lot of rolling up of new characters.
4. This is true, you are not local.
5. In the vehicle vs. vehicle department, you will probably be heavily out numbered by people who specialize in this type of warfare.  Cossack is also an expert, but you only have one of him.

True, Sun Tzu would suggest withdrawal, but its too late for that.  The storm is raging outside.  (don't metagame as I have had weeks to ponder this situation)  Yes, you don't have the ability to transport the population away, and agreed, that is NOT your style to cut and run.  Let me stress two points here: 

1. This town's population was thoroughly cowed by these Raffin Shiv.  Some in the town have actually cooperated with them.  Those are the people that the town fathers labeled as "pathetic and untrustworthy".  They are being watched closely by the other townspeople.  Both 8-Ball and Cossack were recognized as "Banes of the Raffin Shiv".  This is the only reason the townspeople are cooperating with you.  Oh, they do recognize Suzy, but, for the most part, viscerally don't completely trust her as their knowledge of her is based on her character, Suki, the villainous vixen on U.S.Marshals - Night City.
2. You have Cam Newfield with you, a media, who will report whatever you do.  You feel he is an "honest broker", so to speak, but will not lie.  What happens here will help define your Reputations.

I assume by his last post that Cossack has already voted for a mobile defense and, for the record, Suzy was the first to volunteer to ride out with him.  Except for this, she has been rather quiet in the planning so far, letting you take the lead, but clearly she has some ideas.

   

Just a note here, but Paulie has NO experience in Artillery Operations and this Armadillo mounted 40mm Auto GL doesn't have the specialized indirect firing system that the Whyte Hat one had at Rachel.  Also both of your drones are set up for surveillance, not artillery support.  Yes, Suzy could hit something eventually, but only after quite a few ranging shots, and expending valuable ammunition.  I doubt the enemy would wait at a location once the ranging shots stated dropping.  Also, the enemy has mortars and even the smallest one they could have out ranges the 40mm Auto GL.

The fastest vehicle you have at your disposal is a captured Raffin Shiv one.  At Rachel you had a hovercraft with a specialized weapons mount that could outrun any vehicle the Desert Devils had.  Also, the sun has just gone down, so you have about 10 hours of storm to endure to do your planning. 

Just some food for thought.