Allen1

Ah, The Man They Called Jayne!  One of my favorite episodes of Firefly!  Well, we are a little better than him (I hope).

First, here are some Eureka County facts.  The population of the Town of Eureka is currently about 600 to 700.  Many people have moved here from other places in the county due to the depredations of bandits.  The county's official population is about 1,650, but this doesn't include the Desert Devils or other smaller bandit groups. 

By the time the first airjeep departs, Whyte Hat intelligence has estimated that most of the attackers could NOT have come from the town itself, unless, of course, Donald Barker's accusation that the votes were miscounted is true.  If the count was correct then many of the attackers are NOT local.  A follow-up transmission from the County Courthouse reports that there a few cyborgs in the crowd outside both the court house, which is under siege, and the Sheriff's office, which is in the hands of the rebels.  Whyte Hat's drones are not yet close enough to confirm that by the time the first airjeep departs.  As a note of interest, there has been no suspicious movements in Alpha by the Desert Devils before this day and their camp is now fairly quiet after a night of wild New Year's celebrations.

Teresa listens to 8-Ball's concerns about future legal ramifications of a potential massacre, but seems unconcerned.  She will take full responsibility for the outcome.  When the first group departs, there are two basic Rules of Engagement you should be ready for.  First, an angry civilian crowd that is to be dispersed with gas grenades and batons; the second, an armed and organized insurrection that is to be put down quickly with heavy firepower.  Regardless of which set of rules will apply when the Team arrives, there is to be NO airstrikes with munitions that will devastate the town.  Your escorting RPV-500 Tiltrotor' weapons load is an AA missile on the undercarriage hard point with sets of small rockets (w/smoke warheads) on both wing mounts.  There is, of course, the internal chain gun in case things get ugly.

The difference between this any any of your past engagements is that you will be going into action in your new (and as of yet unseen by anyone) suits of Pit Viper armor (T.J. will be in a Hooded Viper since he is a former U.S. Army Power Armor trooper).  In this reality a difference between this armor and the EMA-1 is the Crystalline Poly-nucleotide Lattice (CCPL) style musculature combined with the frame that gives a Toughness Modifie.  This allows the wearer to use Borg Weaponry that would otherwise shatter his/her bones without extreme body modifications.  Each Team member that is trained to use this armor (which is everyone) can choose Borg weapons to carry and use for this action (owned and paid for by Whyte Hat).  Teresa's only insistence is that everyone also carry a baton.  As an example, Teresa will be carrying a baton, some gas grenades, two 14mm pistols (she is ambidextrous), a 14.5mm Assault Rifle w/double sized clips and two combat knives w/larger grips.  If the rioting crowd is just a group of angry citizens then the baton, her gas grenades, Authority and the intimidation factor of the Pit Viper should be enough to quell the crowd.  However, her philosophy is "plan for the worst and hope for the best".          

There will be more information coming once the rest of the first wave (Marshals T.J. Law, J.J. Hunter and 8-Ball) select their weapons choice.  Please remember that the EEC Airjeep isn't a very large vehicle so what Teresa has chosen is about the most number of items you can bring.

The current plan is for the first wave to swoop in and drop the 4 person Team on the roof of the Court House under a smoke screen and then withdraw quickly in case there are MANPADs on the field.  There is a hatch on the court house roof that leads to a small attic.  I will be posting maps and the known interior of the court house in a few days.  

Any more questions?

An Introduction to Episode 56

Of course it isn't going to be a completely peaceful holiday season.  In fact, a bloody battle will commence, but NOT in Elko County.

Sunday, December 23, 2074:  The Aguinaldo Family returns to the Snake Nation Reservation for Christmas.  Mitzi has now sealed an alliance with these Nomads which pushes her influence into Utah.

Monday, December 24, 2074:  The City of Wells holds a surprise unveiling of a small monument in the Western Heritage Park across the street from the El Rancho Hotel, Bar & Casino in honor of the first anniversary of (what is known locally as) The Battle of the Sunflower Fields.  On it is carved likenesses of the Dacian Wolf and the GMI HoverTransport on a field of sunflowers.  The names of Cossack, the crews of those two hover vehicles and all the Team members including US Marshals that help defend the town last year are also carved in that stone.  (The sculpture was created by Mia Miller, 8-Ball's wife.)  The City Council presents all of named people on the monument and Mitzi with a Proclamation of Thanks.

Thursday, December 27, 2074:  The Nevada Appeals Court denies former Eureka County Commissioner Donald Barker's lawsuit to invalidate the last election that tossed him and his cronies out of power.  His lawyer announces that his clients will appeal it the state Supreme Court.

Saturday, December 29, 2074:  Since all has been peaceful for the past couple of months, the last of the Nevada National Guard withdraws from the Town of Eureka.  This still leaves 10 Nevada State Border Patrol officers, 3 state bailiffs and 6 county deputies.  This leaves a larger police force than when the former corrupt administration was removed.  

Monday, December 31, 2074:  There is a major New Year's Eve celebration in Wells (and in most towns and cities in Elko County).  The economic situation in the county has blossomed over the past year.  Despite Commissioner Meadows attempts to blacken Whyte Hat and the US Marshals' reputation, most of the population supports their presence in the county.

Tuesday, January 1, 2075:  And then it happens; at 2:30 am the scramble alarm sounds at the Whyte Hat Headquarters in Wells.  A call for help has come in from the Town of Eureka.  Former County Commissioner Barker and the wanted Under Sheriff of the county are leading an armed mob of a couple of hundred. to take over the town.  They are trying to arrest the legally elected government.  The state judge, Ellen Morris (the County District Attorney), her grandfather (the newly elected county commissioner) and their supporters are holed up in the old County Court House.  Upon hearing this Teresa  orders a full counter attack to restore order in Town of Eureka.  She has Mitzi's full support on this.  Whyte Hat has no authority to do this themselves, but the U.S. Marshals do and have the ability to call on Whyte Hat for support which Teresa does.    Cossack and his hover tank crew are off duty, but recalled quickly.  Marshal Suárez (with Mitzi's approval) calls for Team to suit up in their new Viper armor, which the are now fully trained to use.  She will lead the first wave which will go in on an EEC Airjeep supported by a Militech RPV-500 Tiltrotor.  The Hover QRF will depart when Cossack and his crew arrive so the Dacian Wolf can escort the GMI HoverTransport.  At this point, the AV QRF is being recalled and will depart when they have enough troops on board.  The Whyte Hat Force Commander is quickly preparing follow-up forces.  The long duration drone is being sent to observe the situation and a second drone of that type will be launched to keep the surveillance net up over the rest of Elko County.  The Whyte Hat satellite is being tasked to observe that location.

Teresa is heading out on that first EEC Airjeep.  There should be one character from each of the three players going.  The marshal wants T.J. to be in this group.  As to the other two, the players may decide, but it is suggested that 8-Ball be one of them and J.J. the other.  The rest will follow in the other airjeep later on.  

OK, I will be providing more maps and information over the next week.  I am also sure that people will have questions, so ask away!      

Events in the First Three Weeks of December, 2074:

Saturday, December 1, 2074:  The next group of fresh troops arrive from Whyte Hat's training center in North Oak just north of Night City.  Because of the few casualties that Whyte Hat has suffered so far and the usefulness of the 75mm Krupp Gun, these troops form a new unit.  It is a small 25 person artillery battery with 4x 82mm mortars.  This unit is eventually dispatched to Trade Town.  Two tubes are positioned on the newly constructed fortified position on the mountain top overlooking the town and the remaining two are positioned inside the town.  This is in addition to the new Mi-26 helicopter (for Elko Transport) and a third long duration reconnaissance drone (for Whyte Hat) that arrive on that same day.     

Wednesday, December 5, 2074:  Former Commissioner Donald Baker & former Eureka Town Constable Norman Bates bring suit in state court claiming the election they lost was marred with rampant fraud and demand the courts overturn it.  The Nevada State Appeals Court takes up the case for a quick (sort of) hearing and promises a decision by the end of the month.

Friday, December 7, 2074:  Jamie Scott, Chief Judge of the District Court and his three clerks are granted bail in the same amount of $1,000,000 each (€500,000) as the former Commissioner Donald Baker, Commissioner Graves & Norman Bates.  Again, unknown sources pay to have Judge Scott released, but his three clerks are left to languish in prison. 

Monday, December 10, 2074:  With an early snowfall near Union Mountain, construction begins in secret to enlarge the old mine and prepare it as a fire base.  It is protected by elements of the Ranger Platoon and remains under 24 hour surveillance by Whyte Hat's security Net.

Friday, December 14, 2074:  The rebuild of Roy Batty's old T-72 is complete and this main battle tank, goes through very public trials over the weekend.  All the political powers in town are there and put on a united front.  This MBT is assigned to the defense of Wells.    

Tuesday, December 18, 2074:  Commissioner Meadows (NOT a friend of the Team) does an 'ambush interview' on Marshal Suárez with Denny Webber, a media from the Elko Daily Free Press, who is friendly to the commissioner.  (Mitzi has discovered this media is also a member of Max Gruik's One True Path.)  Mary Zuma, the daughter of the late Sargent Zuma, also confronts the marshal with her claims that her father was innocent.  Teresa offers to interview Mary Zuma who insists it be done in the presence of the media, Webber.  Teresa agrees, but bars Commissioner Meadows from the interview, which angers the politician.  After the interview Marsha Suárez publicly promises to officially review the State Border Patrols findings due to the discovery that Sargent Zuma was murdered.  By late afternoon, the State Border Patrol files an injunction to bar her reopening their case on the grounds that she has no jurisdiction.  The injunction is temporarily granted until a hearing next month in January, 2075.            

Saturday, December 22, 2074:  Gemma and Valarie Aguinaldo (Fawkes' sisters) come to Wells, Nevada.  They head to the airport with Mitzi (and any who wish to go also).  A private jet lands and Petrochem security bring out the two Aguinaldo Family parents, who have now been pardoned and released from custody.  The parents are thin, gaunt and aged beyond their years, but are basically healthy considering what they have been through.  After this happy reunion, Mitzi explains to the Team that she has been in negotiation with the mega-corp to get them released every since the attack on Trade Town.  B&B Technologies' investigation of the parents' original conviction for terrorism against Petrochem had turned up a lot of questionable 'evidence' from that trial.  This combined with Teresa's extensive footage (and from others if they gave it to Mitzi) of Petrochem's actions (i.e. their use of cruise missiles armed with illegal cluster munitions and wholesale shooting of fleeing residents of Trade Town), proves that the mega-corp was lying in their official after action report.  This brought Petrochem to the negotiating table.  Now, no one just blackmails a mega-corp like this, so Mitzi is also able to deliver a promise from the Aguinaldo Family to cease all attacks against Petrochem.  This total deal is simply: Petrochem releases the parents with a pardon (their conviction stands), the corporation (and their various official minions) drops all charges against members of this Nomad Family, and, in return, the 'terrorist' attacks end.  The reasons for this exchange (or even its existence) isn't publicized and evidence of Petrochem's misdeeds in Trade Town 'disappears'.  

Now, since this post only covers up to December 22nd of December, yes, Episode 56 will occur somewhat soon after this date.  Now, the time between Christmas and New Years was very eventful last year: the attack by the Jackpot Raiders with its resulting battle and snow storm along with the early arrival of Whyte Hat's combat elements.  There are celebrations planned for these victories and local milestones along with those that normally come with these holidays.  Whyte Hat surveillance will be  particularly on alert.  None of the regular ready QRF forces are given the holidays off.  Marshal Suárez insists that half of the Team be ready for deployment during these critical holidays.             

Teresa doesn't consider occupying Trade Town a primarily political decision.  She sees it as an important strategic move.  Petrochem smashing this settlement radically changes the balance of power in the area.  Trade Town was extremely important to the Desert Devils and all the bandit groups in the area as well as the local Nomad groups passing through.  This is where even the Desert Devils were able to buy items they couldn't steal and sell what they couldn't use.  NO ONE goes to Alpha for trade due to the fearsome reputation of the Desert Devils.  The marshal thinks it was more likely that the Desert Devils would take the first opportunity to take over the remnants of Trade Town and reopen the market there, which will give them more power and influence in the region.  At the end of this operation either Whyte Hat will be driven out of Elko County or the Desert Devils must be destroyed.  That means Trade Town, if abandoned to the Desert Devils, will have to be retaken.  Teresa doesn't want to pay the blood price for retaking it later when we can keep it now and make the Desert Devils launch a full scale attack if they want it back.  She doesn't think they will make this attack any time soon.  Petrochem's action in almost destroying the town wasn't foreseen in anyone's plans, so the Desert Devils, as well as Whyte Hat, weren't prepared for it.  The Team did get there quickly which has given some superficial credence to Petrochem's claim that Whyte Hat was working with them on this operation.  It isn't true, but a lot of people believe this; at least for now.  While the the Desert Devils are a wasteland crazy Raffin Shiv group, its leadership is thoughtful and methodical.  Until they can get to the bottom of this 'supposed alliance' between Petrochem and Whyte Hat (which doesn't exist), those gangers are NOT about to risk all out war with us AND a world spanning mega-corp!  It will probably take them a couple of months to figure out that there is no alliance, but by then Whyte Hat forces backed up by a militia trained by 8-Ball will be in a position behind the refortified defenses of that town.  It would probably take all of the Desert Devils' offensive power to retake Trade Town.  By then it will be winter and the snows will be down in the mountains.  If you look at the map, yes, Alpha is closer to Trade Town than Wells, but there are two mountain ranges they have to cross and only a couple of passes to use.  None of these passes get plowed in the winter.  In comparison the way from Wells to Trade Town is across a wide open valley that the Dacian Wolf and the Hover QRF can cross in about an hour even in the snow.

For Mitzi, on the political front, the opportunity to help remake a new Trade Town is an opportunity to effect certain changes in Elko County and the surrounding area, which is the only way to bring peace and security to the area.

Other Events during November, 2074 in the Area:                  

Thursday, November 1, 2074:  The state Appeals Court in Carson City hears a case brought by some of the Eureka County defendants to grant them bail.  Donald Barker, Chairman of County Commission, Norman Bates, Chief Constable of the Town of Eureka (and Ellen Morris' campaign opponent for District Attorney) along with Commissioner Graves are granted bail in the amount of $1,000,000 each (€500,000), which is paid immediately by unknown sources.  Donald Baker and Norman Bates return to the Town of Eureka.  They both campaign aggressively, Baker to retain his seat on the county commission and Norman to replace the young crusading DA.  Jamie Scott, Chief Judge of the District Court is denied bail and remains in jail.  

Tuesday, November 6, 2074:  It is Election Day in both Eureka County and in Trade Town!  In the former bandit town  former Constable Walters is elected as Town Magistrate.  His two assistants are selected as the town constables, and  Caroline Dikko, the former Army nurse who headed up the local medical response is elected as Town Administrator.  The Elko County Commission refuses to acknowledge this election as legitimate.  In the Town of Eureka, both Norman Bates (for county DA) and Donald Baker (for county commissioner) lose so Ellen Morris retains her position as District Attorney and her grandfather wins a seat of the county commission.  Both Donald Baker and Norman Bates claim election fraud and refuse to concede.  The two indicted former officials immediately sue and the Nevada Supreme Court agrees to hear their case quickly.     

Friday, November 16, 2074:  Gail Meadows, the County Commissioner from the City of Elko, who is a vocal opponent of Mitzi and Whyte Hat, who Samantha discovered later is a follower of Reverend Max Gruik, the wanted sexual predator and leader of the One True Path, holds a large press conference with Mary Zuma, daughter of the late Sargent Zuma.  They both condemn the report that blamed Mary's father as the "Wendover Source" saying his murder proves the official report a lie.  Commissioner Meadows demands an investigation of Whyte Hat for complicity in Sargent Zuma's 'alleged' framing and subsequent death.  

Wednesday, November 21, 2074:  On the day before Thanksgiving is the grand re-opening of the El Rancho Hotel, Bar & Casino in Well, Nevada.  This is a huge affair as the historic building reopens with much fanfare.  The two sworn enemies, Roy Batty and William Phelps are even civil to each other at the opening.  All are praising the negotiation skills of Mitzi Blaize and all sides credit her with solving this difficult impasse.  The Nevada press takes notice and picks up the story.

Friday, November 30, 2074:  By the end of the month, the population of Trade Town has at least minimal housing and power.  Jobs are plentiful and Whyte Hat is still subsidizing the local government.  Of the 277 survivors, 35 do move away, but another 20 (mostly Snake Nation Nomads) move in, at least temporarily leaving the town with a population of 262 souls.  At this point the breaches in the town's defensive walls have been repaired and work on the destroyed strong points is proceeding well.  By now the town is also fully enclosed by Whyte Hat's Surveillance Net.  Construction on a new fortified position is underway on the top of a mountain overlooking Trade Town.  8-Ball works on training the new Trade Town militia and finds the two new town constables eager to work with him.  This group will need lots of training and they are willing to go through whatever 8-Ball asks.  Whyte Hat moves to fully equip this new (possible) auxiliary.     

Thus the month of November ends peacefully in Elko County.  The Desert Devils continue to observe the truce and there is no overt reaction to Whyte Hat taking control of Trade Town.  Perhaps that Raffin Shiv gang is worried that Petrochem's claim of working with Whyte Hat is true?  In any event the gang seems unwilling to test this supposed 'alliance', at least for now.  

Well, yes, the Schwarze Jägers have to go.  All parties agree that this group needs to be eliminated.  Teresa and MItzi will quickly get a virtual 'shoot on sight' authorization from the county against the Schwaze Jäger.  As she states above, Mitzi has tasked Whyte Hat Intelligence to begin compiling an extensive dossier on this group to start. 

As to Trade Town, when 8-Ball and the first wave of Whyte Hat's security / medical assistance arrive, the survivors are already cleaning up the destruction left by Petrochem.  This is mostly picking up the corpses of the adults.  You find no dead children.  (Eventually you will learn that Petrochem policed up all the dead kids' corpses; bad publicity to leave them lying about).  The internal clean up by the survivors is being run someone you have met before.  It is the Trade Town Constable who delivered the members of the "Cannibal Gang' to Wells and brought the people who were taken from Montello (along with the Montello Madmen's Warlord corpse.  His name is Kurt Walters.  He will turn out to be the last living member of the old administration, although there are some low level secretarial staff (for lack of a better term) also left.  There are hundreds of bodies.  Initial estimates are about 1/3 of the residents were killed outright, there are maybe 100 unwounded and roughly half of them are totally traumatized.  Constable Walters introduces 8-Ball to his pair of newly appointed assistants (two Nomad 'Warriors') and then to the middle-aged Caroline Dikko, who is a former Army medic.  She has assembled a staff with First Aid skills and they are currently working on triage, while she tries to save who she can.  As a note, 8-Ball recognizes one of her ad hoc staff as Shelly (Marshal Suaréz), who is maintaining her Nomad cover.  8-Ball hears Shelly tell survivors that her partner, Terry (T.J.'s cover name), was the one who shot down the Petrochem AV-4 before getting Diego (Angel) and Bluebird (J.J.) to safety.  This was the Trade Town defenders last victory of the night.  She is trying to keep their covers alive.  This starts a joke in town that the AV-4 that was shot down was "Terryfried" out of the sky.  Shelly eventually leaves when the Oasis Snakes show up to haul her 'wasteland van' away to be repaired.  The town people will resist (kind of) any attempt by Whyte Hat to haul any wreckage away.  There is little of value to Whyte Hat left, but the townspeople need every last scrap to rebuild.       

As 8-Ball surveys the scene, he learns that Pertrochem already did some battlefield clean up (or cover-up) using a local bulldozer, which they destroyed before they left.  The fortified headquarters of Trade Town on the north end of the land between Hunter's Lane and Ruby Heights is completely destroyed.  He can tell that it was destroyed by high yield, burrowing 'bunker buster' munition.  The defensive walls of Shanty Town are made of Hesco barriers, but now there is a half a dozen holes blasted in them along its 6800 foot length.  Also, the ten Hesco bastions guarding the five gates have all been blown up (some after the battle).  There are only a few building that haven't been destroyed.  One of these is the medical facility, which isn't marked in any way.  Most of the heavy damage and casualties are located in the areas that were inhabited by members of the five small gangs that ruled Trade Town.  By the end of the first day of clean up, you have a few figures.   

• 250 dead
• 233 severely wounded in need of hospital care
• 117 lightly wounded and recovering
• 100 effective (maybe in 'light wound' condition and traumatized)
• This out of an estimated population of 700.

There is NO wreckage from the Desert Devils in the area.  The force that delivered the fuel tankers left and returned to Alpha hours before Petrochem struck.  The Devils suffered no significant losses beyond a few representatives that stayed to watch the auction and the three that the Team killed in the Broken Axle Cantina. 

There is a serious problem in that NO town will accept any of these people as refugees.  Well, Oasis said they will take a couple, but Montello has no available housing.  The hospital in Elko will take patients, but will only stabilize and get them on the mend.  Then Whyte Hat must take them quickly after they are cleared to move.  Your company has no choice, but to bring them to your medical facility at your Wells base, which is quickly overwhelmed.  Jamal and Rue call some of their former classmates from medical school and a couple of more doctors show up.  While the hospital in Elko is being difficult, a doctor and three nurses from there come to Wells to help.  The citizens of Wells are a little more compassionate, but will NOT settle any of these people there.  After a few days it is clear that the overwhelming majority of the survivors do NOT want to leave their blasted town.  Any attempt to convince them to move is met with the question, "So, you just came to slap on a bandage, get your photo op for the media and then you're gonna leave us to die?"

When Petrochem announces that Whyte Hat was coordinating with them on this operation, the rage of the survivors is increased.  The only religious figure that lived in town was a minister of Max Gruik's One True Path.  There were 8 members of that church / cult in town.  The minister, his wife, their 12 year old daughter, the sister of the minister's wife, her husband, their two young children and a man in his twenties.  Only the minister's daughter and her two young cousins survived.  The kids are totally traumatized.  Contacting any of the religious leaders in Wells to assist gets everyone of them to come to give last rites where requested and bring food and supplies.  They don't want these people in Wells, but they won't let them just die either.

Teresa completely disagrees with 8-Ball's idea to abandon Trade Town.  On Sunday October 2nd, three days after the attack, there is time for a Team meeting on what to do.  The casualty count is now at:

• 373 dead
• 110 severely wounded (and in hospital at Whyte Hat's Wells Medical facilities)
• 102 lightly wounded and recovering in Trade Town
• 115 'effective'    

Her opinion is that all eyes are now on the Marshal's Service and Whyte Hat to see what they will do next.  For her, she is a United States Marshal and these people didn't deserve this level of destruction.  Trade Town is a shambles, but it is too important a place to abandon.  It has a large water source on a road.  Yes, the defenses are smashed, but they are not irreparable.  Whyte Hat has the trained crews and equipment to fix that part of the problem.  If Whyte Hat leaves, the Desert Devils will come.  She doesn't think they will loot and leave.  What if they stay?  The Desert Devils certainly have the numbers, skills and heavy weaponry to take and hold this place against a determined assault, which means eventually Whyte Hat will have to take it back.  So why leave?  We have our troops there now and this doesn't violate the truce agreement with the Desert Devils since Trade Town lies in Elko County.

In answer to the point that Whyte Hat doesn't have the troops to hold it, Teresa disagrees.  The mounted "Ranger" platoon (or troop as she calls them) was intended for anti-bandit patrols this fall and winter.  This force wasn't in the calculations of troops necessary to hold the highway open.  Two of the squads are full trained and the third has only two weeks more till they will be completely ready.  She wants to move them immediately to Shanty Town as a garrison and finish their training there while helping repair the damage.  The marshal also points out that having them defend Trade Town and patrol the border of Eureka County will give cover to the plan to possibly dig in some large artillery pieces to bombard Alpha in that area.  Yes, occupying Trade Town might provoke a Desert Devils attack, but it will take them time to prepare and winter will soon be upon us.  Stretching our ground based surveillance south to that old bandit town will make it possible to keep a better watch on Alpha and make it almost impossible for the forces in Alpha to enter Elko County without being noticed.  Any force that tries to slip overland will have to deal with the Rangers who she has trained for mountain fighting.  

(GM Note:  Mitzi has read all of this and makes the decision to try and hold Trade Town.  She immediately dispatches the (30 person) mounted Ranger Troop along with an ad hoc (standard) 12 person communications and support section.  She also has the Whyte Hat's Engineering Company send a group down to rebuild the walls and commence reconstruction.)

Mitzi comes and speaks to the still suspicious survivors of Trade Town.  She promises them that Whyte Hat will NOT leave them to their fate and pitches her vision of a revitalized Trade Town with the expansion of their farming areas and restoration of the fish stocks in Ruby Lake to bring back the tourism that once fueled the local economy.  The overwhelming majority of the survivors agree to give her plan a chance.  (Really, what choice to they have?)  With the arrival of the mounted Ranger Troop, the AV and Hover QRF troops are able to return to base.  Mitzi meets with the remaining leaders in town and begins to help them reform a proper town government with the aim of getting them recognized by the Elko County government.  She also tasks 8-Ball with helping organize a town militia for Trade Town.  8-Ball looks at what he has to work with and figures he has 40 men and women that are combat effective and another ten that can make up command, medical, support and communications.  It will take some diplomacy as well as training to bring them up as a force that can help defend their town.  They lack in everything except enthusiasm.  

This pretty much closes out the direction that Trade Town will now attempt to take.  How it works out is yet to be seen.  Needless to say, Marshall J.J. Hunter will be told to NEVER go to Trade Town for quite a while since she is a cop.  It is suggested that Angel don't go there either for a while.  Teresa and T.J. Law do go there, but in their true identities.  Their welcome isn't 'warm', but also not too hostile.  Their work helping put the town back together earns them some grudging respect, eventually.  Those two get a little entertainment as they hear the tales the heroes of the battle who, one, shot down a Petrochem AV and the other who remained to help the wounded.  Teresa turns over all of her picture of the battle and aftermath to Mitzi, who wants all the evidence that anyone has.  She forbids any of it to be released.  Clearly she is up to something in this regard, but is keeping her own counsel as to what that is.

In regards to any questions about how all of this is going to be paid for, Mitzi merely replies that that is her problem and she is working on it.

Now, for other events that occur in the last two weeks of October:

The biggest local story isn't even in Elko County.  On Thursday, October 26, 2074, 20 Nevada State Border Patrol agents with Nevada State Bureau of Investigation agents begin a mass arrest of the Eureka County government on charges of rampant corruption, official misconduct and in some cases capital murder!  The following are changed with various corruption offenses: Donald Barker, Chairman of County Commission (detained);  Commissioner Graves (detained); Jamie Scott, Chief Judge of the District Court (detained), Eureka Town Magistrate Betty Barker (at large), all the remaining court clerks 3 & detained); Norman Bates, Chief Constable of the Town of Eureka (detained); 4 of the 10 remaining Eureka County Deputy Sheriffs (2 detained & 2 at large).  The following two also are / were wanted for capital murder:  Sheriff Calvin Klepper (committed suicide before arrest) and Under Sheriff Ivan Renko (at large).  More charges are promised to be forthcoming.  The Free State government backs its play by sending an infantry company with some armored support from their Nation Guard to occupy the Town of Eureka.  State officials are there to oversee the upcoming election.  Ellen Morris, the young Acting District Attorney (former junior ADA), who was passed over the the senior spot, inherited this position on the deaths of the elected DA and his new chief ADA after the assassination of those two men on the conviction of the four Desert Devils leaders you caught at the Frenchie Road interchange fight on Interstate 80.  It becomes clear very quickly that young Ellen Morris orchestrated much of this.  The electronic surveillance and witness testimony (much from her) along with recordings of the principles plotting is damning.  There is now only one county commissioner still in office along with Acting District Attorney Morris.  By the end of the month there is no apparent action preparing in Alpha headed toward Trade Town or the Town of Eureka.  Any raiding parties that leave Alpha head south and/or south west to their favorite areas to strike.                                  

By the end of the month in Trade Town, 12 mobile homes have been donated for the rebuild with 2 from the Elko County government, 4 from various people in Wells and 6 from the Snake Reservation nomads.  The State of Nevada donates 18 ancient 10 men tents, which are at least better than nothing.  Also, B&B Technologies has sent (on loan) a large industrial 3-D printer and begins making simple, but serviceable homes and shops with local material.  Whyte Hat's surveillance NET now covers Trade Town and its immediate area.  The people of Trade Town are preparing to have an election to pick a new town government.  Of course, the County is refusing to recognize the result, but quietly say they are now taking a wait and see attitude in regard to that 'Bandit Town'.

The final casualty count from the Petrochem attack is:

• 423 dead
• 10 severely wounded (and in hospital at Whyte Hat's Wells Medical facilities)
• 50 lightly wounded and recovering in Trade Town
• 217 'effective' 

This is where it stands on October 31st (Halloween) in 2074. 

Miscellaneous Events in Elko County during the Month of September in 2074

The month of September in Elko County remains very peaceful.  Attacks on Whyte Hat’s methods by their political enemies become less as Whyte Hat’s Public Information Office is working overtime to counter these accusations.

So, again as an FYI to my players (and any trying to follow the story), here are a few incidents that occur in the month of September:

Throughout September:

During the First (full) Week of September:

As the school year starts Elko Transport begins school bus service connecting Montello, Oasis, Wells and the local ranches who wish the service to bring their children to the schools.  Whyte Hat  keeps close watch on these buses to ensure the safety of the children.     

During the Second Week of September:

The reconstruction of the historic El Rancho Hotel, Bar & Casino building gets underway in earnest.  Along with City Councilor Dove of the Te-Moak, both Roy Batty and William Phelps are at the official “groundbreaking” wearing smiles.  The two men still despise each other, but realize this project is in the best interests of the city and will make them both rich.      

During the Third Week of September:

While peace reigns still in Elko County, such is NOT the case in Eureka County to the south.  After having to eat a 'tasty' meal of crow with SovOil embarrassing PetroChem by negating that American company’s attempt to punish Whyte Hat for their relationship with the Snake Reservation, things just get worse for them.  A PetroChem convoy moving west down US 50 disappears just west of the Town of Eureka, that county’s seat.  All that is found are the bodies of their security force and drivers.  They have all been shot and many were clearly just executed.  PetroChem accuses Ramón Aguinaldo and his “gang of eco-terrorists” for this outrage and promises retribution.         

During the Fourth Week of September:

Ramón contacts Mitzi and denies any involvement in the massacre.  First, executions of anyone aren’t what they do and second, he didn’t even know about this convoy.  He fears that PetroChem will use this as an excuse to attack the reservation.  Rumors have begun to spread that Petrochem has temporarily leased the Beaver Municipal Airport in Beaver, Utah about a hundred and forty miles southeast of the Snake Nation (Goshute) Reservation.  Whyte Hat’s orbital asset confirms that a corporate military force supported by AVs, Ospreys and heavy transport aircraft are at the airfield along with at a small battalion sized ground unit.  PetroChem is massing supplies there.

And this is when we will restart: Sunday, September 30, 2074. 

Miscellaneous Events in Elko County during the Month of August in 2074

The month of August in Elko County is the peaceful in recent history.  Despite continued attacks on Whyte Hat’s methods by their political enemies, the “Miracle of Elko County”, as the eradication and/or assimilation of the many bandit groups in the area is called, starts to attract widespread notice around the country and in some parts of the world.  Most importantly, the local residents, especially those in the Wells and the eastern part of the county, start to look at Whyte Hat as “one of them”.  The fact that almost 40% of Whyte Hat’s personnel are local hires puts a bit of truth in this belief. 

So, again as an FYI to my players (and any trying to follow the story), here are a few incidents that occur in the month of August:

Throughout August:

During the First Week of August:

Mitzi goes back to Night City, but then drops off the map.  She reappears later but says only that she was taking a little personal time. 

During the Second Week of August:

A video crew from DMS comes to Wells.  Earlier in the spring, Cossack returned to the field where he and his Dacian Wolf (a modified Militech A-20 Panzer) along with the GMI HovTransport shattered the attacking column coming from Jackpot during last winter’s Christmas Raid.  There he planted a large field of Sunflowers on that battleground to not only honor that victory, but as a salute to his home country of Ukraine.  The media mega-corp had caught wind of this now famous local attraction and decided to do a multi-part ‘news magazine’ style story on it.  The video crew also went to Jackpot to interview their leader, Lucky Mike, who also lavished praised on Whyte Hat giving them credit for destroying the major criminal element in Jackpot and touted Jackpot’s parallel resurgence as well.  This didn’t sit well with county officials in the City of Elko, but they politely refrained from public comment.  However, they did complain privately to Mitzi that the story made the bandit government of Jackpot look legitimate.  Regardless, the “Field of Hope” as the sunflowers quickly became known as, became a powerful symbol of renewal in an America desperate to pull itself out of the Collapse.  

During the Third Week of August:

B&B Technologies announces another gift of €300,000 to the schools in Wells and €100,000 to the school in Montello.  Not to be outdone, Roy Batty announces a gift to the Wells Schools of €150,000 which completes the funding of the Wells school athletic programs for the year.   

During the Fourth Week of August:

There is a major announcement that the City of Wells has activated William Phelps’ casino license, but his El Rancho Hotel, Bar & Casino will be operated by a new corporate entity, the Wells Casino Holding Company.  It will be operated by a hired, neutral professional staff.  The company’s major stakeholders will be William Phelps, Roy Batty and the Te-Moak Band of the Wells Colony.  The City of Wells has a small stake too and will dedicate any profit it receives to fund the Wells public schools.  Mr. Phelps has been working slowly to restore the old historic building, but that work will now kick into high gear.  They hope to open by December of this year and plans are afoot to extend the casino north along Lake Avenue up to the old Front Street (7^th Avenue).  All of the stakeholder praise Mitzi Blaize for bringing all the parties together for this agreement.     

Miscellaneous Events in Elko County during the Month of July in 2074

The Team and Whyte Hat have succeeded in suppressing the largest and most aggressive bandit groups in Elko County, Nevada during the last six months.  Some of the groups that were originally on the list to be ‘dealt with’ have been neutralized through the negotiating skills of Mitzi, the Team fixer, who is also the president of Whyte Hat.  She has been pursuing a policy of seeking out the causes, motivations and reasons that drove these people to crime and then finding ways to address them all the while seeking for ways to bring them a share of the prosperity that she trying to bring to the area.  Those who can’t be reasoned with suffer the full weight of the forces she and her patrons have assembled to protect trade on Interstate 80.  Some of the compromises she has worked out (i.e., improving relations with Jackpot, working with a number of Snake Nation nomad groups, gently nudging the bandit Trade Town to scale back some of their more questionable criminal activity, building an alliance with the Visigoth MC and hiring the Luftwaffe, an infamous group of air pirates from Idaho, to support her forces in the 2^nd Battle of Oasis) has angered local officials.  She has balanced this by arming and training local militias along with making large contributions of material to the Elko County Sheriff’s Department.  8-Ball, Whyte Hat’s top solo, is responsible for much of the work with the local militias and these locals have expressed their support by electing him as one of the Constables of the City of Wells.  Of course, the victories of Cossack and his Dacian Wolf against recalcitrant bandits, all of which were recorded on video from drones and then widely circulated by Whyte Hat’s very active publicity division, have brought them many more fans, not only locally, but across the country and world.  Most important is the fact that bandit activity has dropped dramatically across the county and attacks on Interstate 80 have almost ceased.  Traffic on the highway has exploded and along with it a greater prosperity for the whole county.  Still. county officials continue to worry a little about Whyte Hat’s methods, but the Team’s results are better than was expected. 

There is also Elko Transport, who contracts Whyte Hat on this operation.  Mitzi is also a major stock holder in this company, so they work hand in hand.  Both Whyte Hat, Elko Transport and a number of PCs have made major contributions to rebuilding the school system in the area.  Elko Transport has also begun public bus service down Interstate 80 to connect all the major towns and cities on that highway. 

So, as an FYI to my players (and any trying to follow the story), here are a few incidents that occur in the month of July:

Throughout July:

Mitzi commences a long series of meetings with many of the local stakeholders who are at an impasse about who will get to open a casino in the City of Wells.  By the end of the month, she has been able to unravel most of the secret hatreds and petty jealousies that have prevented a casino reopening in Wells.  Now that the fixer is aware of many of these simmering issues, she is planning a course of action to bring everyone together and come up with a solution that will satisfy all of the warring parties.  It continues to be a daunting task, but Mitzi has now established herself as the one person that all partied will talk with.  Only time will tell how this will come out.

During the 3rd Week of July:

The trial of four Desert Devil leaders of the raid on Interstate 80 that was shattered by Whyte Hat (Episode 52) occurs in the City of Eureka.  The deal after that fight was that the Desert Devils agreed not to interfere with traffic on Interstate 80 (for one year) in exchange Eureka County got jurisdiction over the crimes committed by the Desert Devils and the four Eureka County Deputies.  All the prisoners were given to Eureka County to deal with.  That county then laid responsibility for the whole affair on the dead Chief ADA from Eureka County whose body was later identified among the fallen Desert Devils.  This allowed Eureka County to release the four deputies, but they were forced to resign from the department.  All but four Desert Devils, who were identified as leaders of the attack, were just given fines, which were never collected.  These four were put on trial that week on far lesser charges than they deserved.  Still, the top leadership of the Desert Devils was infuriated by this.  Some of the Team go to Eureka to testify under heavy security.  The Team members stick to their story that they learned of the raid and complicity of Sargent Zuma through an informant.  A previous court decision allows them not to give the sourc’s actual name.  The four are convicted and each given a two year sentence in the county slammer.  When the Eureka County District Attorney and his new chief ADA were leaving the courthouse later that afternoon, these two men, along with their bodyguard, were assassinated by automatic weapons fire.  Local LEOs were unable to catch the fleeing killers.  This left Eureka County with a young, female acting DA, who had been passed over initially for the recently vacated Chief ADA for a hand-picked replacement that was the male clerk for the senior county judge.  The Eureka Sheriff’s Department promises a “thorough” investigation.  

Saturday, July 28, 2074:

Whyte Hat’s high level surveillance picks up a Navy M-40 GEV hover tank arriving at the Desert Devil’s main base in Alpha.  Mitzi soon confirms that this is one of the two for sale by an unnamed Nevada weapons dealer that Red told her about. 

In two days, I will post about the few events in the month of August.  Stay tuned!              

A Second Elko County Bandit Report from Sheriff Johnson

The situation in Elko County is now thinned out its list of criminals.  True, there are a number of wasteland crazies out there, but most of these so-called “bandit groups” are just plain folk with no other means to feed their families and survive.  The Collapse forced the Federal government to abandon much of their responsibilities to many states, which while a blow to the people of Elko County didn’t surprise many as their trust in the Feds wasn’t very high anyway.  Then the new Free State government also tossed them away as they concentrated on Nevada’s gaming and entertainment industry to bring them through those dark times.  However, once a small measure of recovery had been achieved, Carson City just continued to ignore this part of the state.  The only state agency that remained was a small Nevada Border Patrol station in West Wendover on the Utah state line.  The attention of this station was fixed on people and cargo coming into the state, and not in keeping any sort of order in Nevada itself.  With no outside help coming from anywhere, people watched what little traffic that was on the highway and decided that ‘procuring’ some of that wealth passing through their area was the only way to survive. 

It is hard to keep track of these groups as many form, merge, fall apart or are destroyed by other bandit groups.  Many of these groups, especially the more vicious ones, are cannibalistic in the sense that they fight among themselves and destroy each other.  Although there are unconfirmed reports that some have descended to literal cannibalism. 

Known Major Organized Groups

Desert Devils (actually in Eureka County)

This infamous group of Raffin Shiv is still the largest and most well-armed group of that type in Nevada.  They are actually located near the town of Alpha in Eureka County.  The rumor that they have an alliance with the corrupt Sherriff of Eureka County has been confirmed and the Team is still gathering damning evidence for the Free State of Nevada.  These Raffin Shiv never attack any resident targets in Eureka County that pay them off and only attack convoys moving along US 50 that have refused to pay the local sheriffs to escort them across that county.  This group mostly concentrates their raids on areas to the south and southwest of Eureka County, which is why the Free State government is finally getting concerned about them.  A raiding party did hit Interstate 80 between Carlin and Battle Mountain with some Eureka County Sheriffs who detained the protection of the convoy that these Raffin Shiv planned to attack.  By then Whyte Hat’s SIGINT had discovered that this (and other) bandit groups were getting intelligence of valuable shipments moving down Interstate 80 from an Elko County Deputy Sheriff that was serving as liaison to the Nevada State Border Patrol in West Wendover.  This corrupt policeman is now on the run.  Whyte Hat was able to get to the proposed ambush site before the Desert Devils and ambushed the ambushers.  The Desert Devils lost many members both killed and captured.  Their M-75 Light Tank was destroyed and their Arasaka Combat 10 was crippled and put out of action.  This last vehicle was repaired, given to the Elko County Sheriff’s Department along with some metal gear and small arms to form a SWAT unit to battle bandit groups.  Negotiations between the US Marshals, Whyte Hat, Elko and Eureka County came up with a compromise giving the Eureka County Courts jurisdiction on prosecuting the defendants in return for a year’s truce with the Desert Devils, who promised to limit their raids to the south and the promise of the Eureka County Sheriffs to not interfere with Whyte Hat’s work on Interstate 80..    Later it was discovered that among the bodies of that Raffin Shiv gang was the corpse of the chief Assistant District Attorney for Eureka County.  Clearly he was a co-combatant.  The corrupt government of Eureka immediately put the whole blame on him in an effort to distance themselves from the incident.     

The Desert Devils is still most heavily armed group in the state.  They still maintain about 500 to 600 fighters but are down to only 3 actual tanks:  These are a M-1E1 Super Abrams, a (many times rebuilt) T-72 and the Militech MBT-4.  They have never committed their M-1E1 Super Abrams to anything but defense of their holding near Alpha.  This may be due to a lack of spare parts, but definitely that fuel for its turbine engine is so hard to come by.  These vehicles are rarely ever sent far from home. 

Jackpot (Raiders)

Whyte Hat has learned much about this group.  First and foremost is that Jackpot was home to five allied gangs of which one, the Raiders, were the most violent and dangerous.  Unbeknownst to the Team, they virtually destroyed this group back in December of 2073 when Wells was attacked and Cossack with the Dacian Wolf and its GMI Hover Transport ambushed the advancing attackers and drove the survivors back into a huge snowstorm.  Only about a half dozen Raiders survived to return to Jackpot.  This led to a change in leadership as the gangs now concentrate on their casinos, brothels and other formally ruined entertainment centers there.  It’s now a poor man’s Arcadia with no holds barred blood sports, gambling and hunting ‘safaris’ where humans are your prey.  Lucky Mike, the new leader of Jackpot and Mitzi struck a peace deal after Whyte Hat pulled a lightning raid on Jackpot to free some of the citizens of Montello who were carried off by the Montello Madmen when the Team drove that gang from Montello.  The agreement has led to Jackpot freeing any slaves from Elko County and a promise to eventually end any “involuntary servitude” in that town.  Continued negotiations have led to the reopening of US 93 from Wells to Jackpot with both Jackpot and Whyte Hat guaranteeing the security of the road.  

Montello Madmen

Whyte Hat has utterly destroyed this gang.  Those who were not killed have left this group.  When driven from Montello, about half the gang fled north to Jackpot with the Gang Lord and half fled south to Trade Town with the Warlord.  Whyte Hat’s attack on Jackpot, Cossack’s armored demonstration near Trade Town and Mitzi’s public announcements that Whyte Hat would continue to hunt down survivors of this gang and those who hide them prompted both the leaders of both bandit towns to deliver the executed corpses of  the Gang Lord and Warlord to Mitzi.  She has had their skulls cleaned and labeled.  The two sit prominently on her desks;  one in Wells and the other in her main office in. Night City.  This act has added to her fearsome reputation as one not to cross. 

Snake Nation Reservation (Goshute Reservation in White Pine County in Nevada and Tooele County, Utah)

This is a curious place in that it is a federally recognized tribal reservation (honored by both the Nevada and Utah Free State governments).  During the Collapse many of the reservations inhabitants joined the Nomad movement.  When these families and bands returned to the reservation they brought many of their new Nomad allies from the Snake Nation with them.  These groups have intermarried to the point that the many of these Nomads have a large percentage of Goshute and/or Shoshone blood.  Many of the Snake Nation groups have adopted Native American ways and often identify with that culture rather than mainstream America.  In the Nomad world this reservation serves as a way station for Snake Nation Nomads.  While the residents don’t usually bother traffic in Elko County, there have been reports of attacks against Petrochem vehicles.  

Mitzi has established cordial relations with this group which cost her Petrochem’s sponsorship of Whyte Hat’s mission here and a refusal to deliver fuel supplies to Elko County.  This turned out to be less of a problem since SovOil almost immediately stepped in to support Whyte Hat, its mission and the whole county in general.  This corporate decision was based solely on a desire to embarrass Petrochem and build SovOil’s local market share.

Trade Town (Shanty Town)

This extremely well-fortified settlement located at the southern edge of the county is a trade and rest center for many groups in Elko and surrounding counties.  It also maintains a local standard town government, but unlike the town of Halleck, which is recognized by the Elko County Commissioners, Trade Town is considered an illegal operation and criminal organization.  It was Trade Town that reportedly shot down the only helicopter owned by the Elko County Sheriff’s Department.  This wasn’t done by a missile, but rather with a large, possibly radar controlled gun.  This settlement has fortified walls and minefields covering all approaches.  Besides possessing a well-armed defense force, there are often many nomad and bandit groups visiting to do business.  The local Raffin Shiv do business here and, although other Nomad Nations hunt Raffin Shiv, the town enforces peace between the two groups in their area of control. 

The resident townspeople don’t usually engage in raids, robbery and other banditry, but provide a place for groups who do to unload their loot and get supplies.  The favorite form of entertainment there are the blood sport games held about once a week.  There is also a rumored slave market although Trade Town officials deny it.  Nomad groups tolerate this place since most legitimate towns in the area don’t trust any Nomads (officially) and see no difference between them and the Raffin Shiv.

Not much has changed here except that this group has been thoroughly cowed by Whyte Hat.  Mitzi has negotiated with them and this has given Trade Town some more legitimacy which they crave.          

Visigoth Motorcycle Club

This band of motorcycle “enthusiasts” live in and control the small town of Halleck just south of Interstate 80 about half way between the cities of Elko and Wells.   Almost the entire town’s population belongs to, are related to someone in or friends with the bikers.  The gang scrupulously maintains their town “government” with a magistrate, town clerk and a constable (the club’s Warlord).  The primary concern of the club and town is smuggling although they have been rumored to hijack an occasional truck or two.

Mitzi has also negotiated an agreement with them too.  It seems her old friend and former teammate, Red, is the Visigoths chief arms supplier.  Whyte Hat now uses the gang as one of their principle ammunition suppliers.  She also altered the highway repair schedule to fix the exits and bridges to Halleck and the Welcome Rest Area on Interstate 80, which the gang owns and is now building a road house and service center.  In exchange the Visigoths has now informed the local gangs that they supply that raids on the Interstate will lead to them being cut off from resupply by the gang.  In fact that gang now participates in patrolling the areas around Halleck to keep that highway open. 

Known Minor Organized Bandit Groups

Ghosts of Numaga

These are a group of Northern Paiute tribesmen from the wastes of the northwestern part of the county who blame both the Free State and Federal government for the wretched conditions of the local reservations and are taking the fight to the ‘white man’.  They take their name from Numaga, the great Paiute War Chief, who fought the Pyramid Lake Wars back in the 19^th century.  It is a very small group and aren’t much of a threat in Elko County.  They depend of their brothers and sisters in the Duck Valley Reservation for support.  As such rarely raid in Elko, and keep their attacks centered on the State of Idaho, Humboldt and Eureka Counties in Nevada.  Nothing more has been learned about them and they pose no threat to the US highways, so far.   

Oasis Toll Collectors 

This gang was actually destroyed by the Montello Madmen a few months before the Team arrived in Elko County.  The town of Oasis was then occupied by a group Snake Nation nomads who the Montello Madmen allowed to occupy the place as long as they didn’t interfere with the Madmen’s attacks on traffic on Interstate 80.  They also served the purpose of being targets to any who wanted to stop the attacks on traffic there since the nomads would probably bear the brunt of any revenge attacks for the Madmen’s depredations.  Whyte Hat wasn’t drawn in to doing just this and has since made allies of these nomads whom they refer to as the Oasis Snakes.

Schwarze Jäger (Black Hunters)

This group of psychotic Nazi bastards is made up of former enforcers of the old fascist regime of Idaho who fled the state after that government was overthrown.  They take their name from the nickname of the old  SS Dirlewanger Brigade which was led by convicted criminal Oskar Dirlewanger, a sexual sadist.  This unit was responsible for numerous atrocities in Eastern Europe including the massacres that followed the Warsaw Uprising and Slovak National Uprising in 1944.  They are known to visit Jackpot for ‘rest and recreation’ and are said to have a lair east of that town.  This group is loathed by the Native Americans of the Duck Valley Reservation.  It has been said that the Native Americans informed Jackpot that they would hold them responsible for any attack by the Schwarze Jäger on them after one particularly savage raid.  Under threat of being banned from the only town that would supply them, they have stayed away from the local reservations.  Although they do occasionally raid into Elko County, most of their attacks are aimed at Idaho.  Whyte Hat has had no contact with this group yet.

Small Bandit Groups

The Elko County Sheriff estimates there are now about only 6 small independent bands of raiders scattered across the county.  Whyte Hat learned that four of these small groups identified by Sheriff Johnson make up the gangs of Jackpot.  This leaves only two small independent bands north of the Interstate 80.

South of the Interstate Whyte Hat has learned that 5 of the smaller band actually make up the population of Trade Town.  Three of the original groups on the list have already been destroyed by Whyte Hat.  Another group has disbanded and one took part in the 2^nd Battle of Oasis and were destroyed leaving only 3 small independent gangs south of Interstate 80.  Again, these groups appear and disappear with great regularity.  They join together, fight and break apart regularly.  Many are just plain folk who have no other means of surviving, but others are the archetypal wasteland crazies who commit horrifying atrocities to their victims.  They generally don’t stay in any permanent location so they are hard to keep track of.   

Local Air Pirates

Geronimo’s Flying Circus

This collection of air pirates is based somewhere in the Apache lands of Arizona.  They are a mixture of propeller driven and small jet aircraft that force down cargo zeppelins or slow moving transport planes.  They do stray into Nevada airspace from time to time, but are more of a threat in the southern part of Nevada, but are known to have alliances with ground based raiders in Nevada.  Their main threat to Whyte Hat is that they do serve as mercenaries for anyone with money and fuel.  They have tangled with Whyte Hat twice.  The first time they were hired to shot down Mitzi’s plane as she flew from Las Vegas back to Wells.  The Brazilian Bumblebee sent to do this was shot down by a large Whyte Hat combat drone.  Again, they were hired for ground attack role in the 2^nd Battle of Oasis.   Their premier jet fighter had its nose (and 30mm Vulcan) shot off by Cossack with the VSAM on his hovertank.         

The Luftwaffe

These are renegades from the Idaho Air National Guard, who claim they are attempting to restore the rightful (fascist) government in Idaho.  They are actually just a group of greedy bandits that are furious that they have lost their favored place in the old corrupt government.  It isn’t a large group, but their aircraft are all fairly modern military aircraft.  Again, they are for hire and unlike some in Geronimo’s Flying Circus, they are all experienced combat pilots.  For enough money they would strafe their own mothers’ house.  This group now has a truce with Whyte Hat, and relations have grown warmer since Mitzi hired them to counter Geronimo’s Flying Circus at the recent 2^nd Battle of Oasis.  The two groups of air pirates met in the sky and commenced an aerial ballet where they would fire short bursts at each other all the while making sure they didn’t actually hit each other.  This went on until Cossack damaged the aircraft of the flight leader of circus.    

The Team has done very well and Sheriff Johnson is pleased.     

Yeah, that was of material to go through.  Here are a few comments on the above.

1. Horses:  Good choice here.  The ranch owners due forward and pick up their animals and most bring some of their small militias for protection.  In this way Whyte Hat and the Team get to meet these people.  Your reputation (small r) is enhanced with the locals not only in Elko County, but also in Eureka and White Pine Counties.  Teresa will take all 20 horses.  She intends to build up this mounted force (she calls them her Rangers) to a full 30 soldier platoon.  This marshal spends a good deal of time training them.  By this November, she plans to have them trained as a fast mobile force that can travel over rough terrain and operate in the winter snow.  In the winter many of the local bandits settle down in inaccessible mountain camps to wait out the winter.  Teresa intends to have this force hunt them down this winter, hence her insistence in gathering troopers with wilderness survival skills as well the ability to ride on horseback.
2. Vehicles for the Militia Commandos: Your 4th Commando has NO vehicle, so you might want to request 4 instead of 3, which will, of course, be immediately granted.  Each Commando will also accept a motorcycle for the uses you described.  The 1st and 2nd Commandos accept a single bike each for their dispatch riders.  The militia HQ unit executive officer requests two bikes.  Teresa will want to keep at least 30 bikes in reserve in case her Rangers need them.  She begins training those men in that unit who don't have the skill in motorcycle.
3. Well, keep your eyes open then and I will make note to identify them when you see such vehicles in game.  FYI, Whyte Hat already has a dozen Deuce and a Half's (only 10 of which are generally ready for service).  These vehicles are the principle trucks used to move supplies around.  The big rigs are used to move certain gear into Elko County from other parts of Nevada or rented out to fund this operation.  The Visigoths are one of your biggest customers in that enterprise.

Crews for your newly acquired armored vehicles are being recruited and trained in North Oak.   

There is a bit to unpack here, so away we go!

There is certainly a good idea regarding sports in Elko County.  I should mention that the schools have football, soccer (Futbol), basketball, swimming, baseball, track & cross country.  However, by far the most popular sport in the area is the rodeo!.  There is a rodeo area just south of the Interstate along with some stables.  The high school has a rodeo club and the town sponsors a number of amateur and professional rodeos over the spring, fall and summer.

Still, you can organize sports among Whyte Hat personnel and since you have a number of locals serving with you, this will attract local participation.  Besides being good fun and healthy, this will help bind Whyte Hat and the townspeople.  

Now as to this next episode.  You are all aware of several upcoming things.

Sunday, June 10, 2074:

Mitzi comes into command center with coordinates that she has her satellite check out.  Satellite surveillance notices massing for a major raid out on the far end of a ranch in White Pine County.  She suspects they are preparing to launch a raid on Interstate 80.  The base goes on full alert.  When the forces move out they are covered by a 500 meter diameter ECM bubble.  

Monday, June 11, 2074:

The raid from the south heads towards Oasis.  The Team will engage.

Thursday, June 14, 2074:

Cossack, 8-Ball and bachelor group fly to Las Vegas and the Golden West Hotel & Casino.

Friday, June 15, 2074:

Cossack throws a bachelor party for 8-Ball at the Golden West Hotel and Casino.  

Saturday, June 16, 2074:

Bachelor Party group flies back to Wells, NV.  

Tuesday, June 19, 2074:

Election in Wells, NV to replace the late Commissioner Gunderson.  It will be William Phelps vs. Roy Batty. 

Saturday, June 23, 2074:

8-Ball and Mia get married in Wells, NV.  It is a beautiful day.

Sunday, June 24, 2074:

8-Ball and Mia go on a two week honeymoon in Hawaii as a gift from Mrs. Byrnes 

Monday, June 25, 2074

Teresa, Officer Harris and any Team member who wishes to go take horses to the South Fork Reservation and head out to check out the Union Mountain area.  You will need to know how to ride horseback to go.  The group will be wearing civilian clothes and can't take any heavy hardware or anything that will identify as official Whyte Hat gear.  The trip will last at least 3 days.  No one has to go on this, but Teresa and Tom Harris are.  Teresa will NOT discuss the purpose of the trip.

Alrighty!  Se you all tomorrow for Episode 54!

I have just updated your sheet on ASTRAL, so you should be able to see it now.

• As I explained in the my PM, 8-Ball has only his language slot and 1 skill slot available to use, due to his heavy work schedule.  Your Shoshone is now level 2 with 45 IPs.  Teresa got the loan of a restricted government Scholar chip for this, but has had to return it.  You will soon be up to Archery 5 (10 more weeks at this rate) and that is as far as your teacher can help you so after that you will be able to select another skill to work on.
• OK, the €350,000 is now in a rainy day fund.
• Yes, the Visigoths could have been deadly enemies but they are now at least "neutralized" as a threat to Whyte Hat's mission.  In fact, they are heading to the status of allies!  
• As to the Air Pirates.  The Luftwaffe is based in Idaho right in the center of the Idaho Fascist army area.  They have top of the line air search radar and that area has significant AA resources.  The Whyte Hat Force Commander will not risk any drones to seek them out yet.  He will also not move the satellite north as it would use a lot of fuel to do that and would require pushing up a space launch to replenish its fuel supply; something he knows the government can't / won't do.  Also, since you are at peace with the Luftwaffe, they would probably take any surveillance and recon against them as a hostile move.  Do you want to risk having them launch air attacks on every bridge on Interstate 80?  The Luftwaffe could close the Interstate this way without every attacking any Whyte Hat assets.  Geronimo's Flying Circus is based in Arizona.  They have a couple of air fields to use that run from dirt strips and full service fields for jets.  These are all located inside Native American Reservations.  A strike inside the reservation might bring the Apache Nation into the conflict.  Again, the Force Commander will not risk his limited drone strength and moving the satellite to look at Arizona would use even more of the satellite's fuel.  As to the Desert Devil's air wing, that is already being watched closely.  Their airfield is located inside the outer defenses of Alpha.  Whyte Hat does have an accurate count on their current air assets.  The have one old American P-47 Thunderbolt that has been rebuilt over the years.  The Desert Devils stole it from the Westover Classic Warplanes Club when the aircraft had to make an emergency landing on a road in Elko County a few years ago.  The gang also has a Lockheed-Cesna Pinto and two rugged single engine 'bush planes' (use stats for the Dehavilland Twin Otter); this aircraft has wing hard points that can carry small bombs and/or rocket pods.  The Desert Devils also have an unarmed Bell Spy Eye 18 helicopter.  Their airstrip currently has two armored aircraft bunkers and is currently building a third.     

Interregnum Between April and June 2074

Here is how the session ended last time for those who had conductivity issues and how Mitzi turned around her unfortunate misunderstanding with the Visigoths MC at their initial meeting.; the following is roughly what happened (cribbed from a PM I sent to TigerGuard):

Mitzi finally met with the leader of the Visigoths, but brought 8-Ball as a bodyguard.  Well, the only stipulation for the meeting was 'no cops' and 8-Ball was just made a Wells City Constable.  The MC's warlord threw them out of town.  He was furious that 8-Ball (a cop) was there.  It never occurred to Mitzi that this would be a problem.  However, Mitzi receives a phone call the next day from the wife of the President of the Visigoths (she is also the town administrator of Halleck) who asks Mitzi out to lunch on the following Sunday in the City of Elko so the two of them could try to patch things up.  The 'lunch' will take place at the same restaurant that you first went to during your first trip to Elko.  The place has tight security.  Mitzi is asked NOT to bring any bodyguards and neither would she.  Mitzi accepts, but (I had) 8-Ball insist that he and Cossack come with her to Elko and at least be outside the restaurant.  To make a long story short, the two women meet for lunch, but don't discuss any business.  Both Cossack and 8-Ball overhear the conversation as Mitzi is wired for sound.  The two ladies just get to know each other, talk about family, their pasts and general interests.  As this is going on, the two of you in the car see the Visigoth President walk up to the eatery.  He is holding the hand of a little 10 year old girl.  There is with a young man and woman walking next to him, who was carrying another small child.  With them are two obvious members of the Visigoths (8-Ball recognizes one of them).  No one is wearing colors.  In fact, they are all dressed in their 'Sunday best' and carrying shopping bags.  The club president, the young couple along with the two children go into the restaurant, but the two bikers stay outside with a bunch of the packages.  The two notice you in your car, but don't seem concerned.

You get to hear what is said inside.  The wife of the club president has tricked her husband (and Mitzi) into sitting down with each other.  Mitzi then has lunch with the man and his family.  Again, no discussion of business.  The wife skillfully maneuvers the conversation, using what she has learned from speaking with Mitzi earlier, to point out a lot of similarities in the life history of her husband and your fixer.  At the end of the meal, she takes her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren for ice cream and tells her husband and Mitzi, "I'm sure you have some things to discuss so we'll be back in a half an hour."

When they leave one of the bikers outside goes with them and the other stays outside.  As you got to watch these two bikers for a while, it is clear that they have friends in town and no one is afraid of them.  Inside, Mitzi and the Visigoth leader talk and realize they do indeed have a lot in common.  Thus, begins negotiations.

Without going into too much detail, over the next couple of days the two work out an agreement, which is basically this:

·      These bikers are no friends to anyone dealing with slaves and do not deal with that kind of trade.     

·      Yes, the Visigoths are major weapons suppliers in the area.  They sell to anyone except the Desert Devils.  The Visigoths and the Devils are NOT friends.  There is currently peace between them, but plenty of bad blood.

·      Mitzi has agreed to begin making purchases of ammunition and supplies from the Visigoths.  The gang's prices are good and buying from them shortens Whyte Hat's supply lines.

·      It seems the biker gang owns the old ruined Welcome rest area just west of Wells.  Both the exit ramps and bridges are in serious need of rebuilding there and at the Halleck Interstate exit.  Mitzi has agreed to move the repair of those two bridges to the top of the highway repair agenda.  In return (when the repairs are done) the Visigoths will participate in the defense of the interstate from Welcome to near the City of Elko where the sheriff's patrols end.  The MC also runs a ‘legitimate’ trucking company and favors an open and safe Interstate 80. 

·      Since they do sell to the various local groups, they will make it clear to their 'customers' that interfering with traffic on the interstate will get them cut off from resupply by the Visigoths.

Halleck (and the certain Visigoth businesses) will also be joining Mitzi's Economic Development Group that she is forming for Elko County once work has begun on the two exit ramps.

All in all, everything went well and the Visigoths have gone from a probable enemy to possible ally.

Also, Roy Batty arrived back in Elko at the end of the session and has declared his candidacy for the late Commissioner Gunderson's seat.  Mitzi tried to reach out to him, but the man made it clear that he is VERY opposed to Whyte Hat being here although he does approve of your actions against the bandits.  The man looks at the upcoming election as a referendum on the direction that Wells and all of Elko County in going to take.  He agrees to talk with her after the election.

Where We Are in this Campaign Arc

The first part of the Elko County arc is now successfully completed.  Many of the bandit groups have been at least suppressed temporarily, if not destroyed.  You have all done better than I have anticipated, so kudos to you all!  Traffic is now moving on Interstate 80.  The Wendover Source has been discovered and is on the run.  The Desert Devils are keeping their word and leaving Interstate 80 alone, for now.  Teresa is still of the opinion that you will have to destroy them eventually.  The Snake Nation Reservation is a possible ally.  Trade Town has been cowed and both them and Jackpot is willing to rein in any bandit groups under their sphere of influence.  Of course, you have also crushed numerous groups of Raffin Shiv and other Wasteland Raiders.  Your mission is hardly complete and many of your enemies are working on ways to take you all out.  Your technical superiority is daunting, but they are working to come up with ways to counter it.

My intention is for campaign become a little more episodic.  By this I mean there will be larger skips between the sessions as the threats to your mission here become fewer and farther between, but also more effective.  Our next episode will occur starting on June 10^th.  It will include a major raid from the south (6/11), the results of the election between William Phelps (the Team’s ally) and Roy Batty (a Team opponent) (6/19) and the wedding of 8-Ball and Mia (6/23).  Of course, there will be a few other unexpected incidents.

This means there will be a ten week skip as life and work go on fairly uneventfully.  There are only minor incidents on the highway but no bandit or thief gets away.  Over this time traffic on Interstate 80 grows exponentially as the road is discovered to be safe.  The areas along the highway continue to experience an economic expansion.  For the members of the Team this means that there is time for exploring other interests and perhaps learning something.  All members of Whyte Hat can have two skill lessons a week plus a language lesson (if they can find a teacher, see below).  The US Marshals are a different case and I will speak to them privately.    

With the opening of the schools and your continued warming relations with the Te-Moak Shoshone, you learn that there are adult language lessons in Shoshone at the Wells Colony (the local reservation).  Let me know if you are interested in taking them during this period.  There is no publicly available Scholar Chip for the Shoshone language, but Teresa can get access to one for a few days through her contacts.  It will only be available for those couple of days, so to get a leg up with a +2 Shoshone to start.  Let me know if you are interested for your characters.    

Interesting Occurrences During the Skip

• At the beginning of April, Whyte Hat’s first batch of replacements arrive.  You have had a few casualties, mostly traffic and other non-combat deaths.  There is a surplus of 10 soldiers.  Teresa requests and gets command of these troopers.  She then goes thru the rest of the combat troops and trades many of her new soldiers in for volunteers from other units with a certain set of skills.  She is looking for people with high Wilderness Survival and the ability to ride on a horse.  If they have local knowledge that is even better.  These men begin to train with the stable manager where she (and Officer Tom Harris) keeps their own horses.  The old man at the stable is a Shoshone wise man who knows the ways of the old tribal warriors and the tactics they used.  Teresa has realized that trying to shoot mounted troops from a drone will be problematic.  She can do it, but most could scatter before a drone could get too many and if the drone tried to chase down the rest it would make itself vulnerable to enemy MANPADS.  This cavalry unit can quickly get into places that most of your vehicles can’t.  Yes, your AV’s can, but they will then be vulnerable to MANPADS.  Teresa expects that your bandit opposition will be making an investment in anti-aircraft weaponry to counter your air power.

• As to the ‘Wendover Source’ problem.  There is a huge investigation.  The Elko County captain in command of the West Wendover substation takes the brunt of the blame for not supervising his liaison officer properly and he resigns in disgrace after 17 years of service with no pension.  The city of West Wendover is furious that they have paid the local sheriff’s department to be there and then have its people organize some kind of ‘bandit information central’!  Their city council votes to reestablish its own city police force and demands that the sheriff sub-station be moved.  This works for the Team since those most of those deputy sheriffs and their office is moved to Montello.  This relieves the 2^nd squad of the 3^rd platoon which is then moved to Carlin to link up with the 1^st squad and 3^rd platoon command section.  The Captain Roberts of the West Wendover Nevada Border Patrol station doesn’t escape blame either.  He is allowed to retire with 26 years of service, but helps reestablish the West Wendover Police Department before he goes.  His chief lieutenant is eventually transferred to another office.  The sergeant, who has 21 years in, also resigns but becomes the new West Wendover Police Chief.  He is a local from that town.  One of the other Border Patrolmen also resigns and joins the West Wendover Police Department along with two of the local deputies that didn’t want to move to Montello.  The rest of those Border Patrol officers are transferred to other posts and a whole new group of the Nevada State Border Patrol replaces them.  Also, Sergeant Zuma makes the Nevada Top Ten Wanted List.      

• Since the Luftwaffe has now taken an interest in your doings and Geronimo’s Flying Circus has taken contracts against you, Teresa has convinced her superiors to given Whyte Hat a Militech AVX-9C Viper.  As these cost €2,760,000, it will NOT be replaced if you lose it.  Of course, Zora, your chief pilot is ecstatic.  However, Teresa doesn’t want this aircraft deployed yet or even be flown in the day.  She wants to keep this as a surprise since it isn’t known that you have it.  Also, Cossack is offered Pilot: AV lessons, if he wants them.  If he does accept these lessons, then Zora will request (once she recognizes his skills) that Cossack serve as her weapons officer in the craft’s second seat, when he is not otherwise employed.  Zora is a much better pilot, but realizes that Cossack is a slightly better shot with Vehicular Weapons.        

• Angel is now working full time in Wells and given a raise to €10,000 a month similar to a 1^st Tier operator.  By the time we restart in June he will have reconditioned all the captured Metal Gear and finished repairing the Arasaka Combat 10.  These (along with a small number of assault rifles and shoguns) are given to the Elko County Sheriff’s Department so they can form a SWAT unit to deal with their serious bandit problem in Spring Creek and Lee south of the City of Elko.  These areas are outside of Whyte Hat’s operational areas and Whyte Hat doesn’t have the assets to safely cover this area.  This action improves Sheriff Johnson’s position and allows him to serious contest the area with the small bandit groups in that area.   Angel also finishes repairing the 37mm ETE Anti-tank gun and Whyte Hat recruits a gun crew for it.  As to personal projects, the six option slot smartgoggles is finished and B&B Technologies is getting ready to manufacture them which will bring Angel another payday.  More on that later.  Also, the first lever action carbine is finished and he is now working on another personal project as well as helping reinforce the defensive weaponry placed round the airport.  I will cover his other projects in a PM later.

• Mia and Celestine begin work in the Wells schools.  They both quickly become popular with their students.  Mia gets a commission to do a painting for the Trail of the 49’ers Interpretive Center.  Celestine comes to feel that Roy Batty, although a local, is actually no better than a carpetbagger who only shows up when the weather is nice and takes more than he gives.  She becomes a vocal supporter of William Phelps and speaks at his rallies.  Phelps also gives her stage time at his Wells Saloon so she can work on her music.  As Cossack, with his history of thumbing his nose at authority, is her boyfriend, she immediately garners respect from the very independent locals.  All of this helps Whyte Hat to be seen as part of the community rather than ‘foreign occupiers’.

• On the subject of schools, there was no way to arrange regular transport between the Wells and Montello schools, but each town opens their own schools on a shoestring budget.  The Nomads from Oasis provide transportation for their own youth to get to Montello.  Salvatore Garcia donates a wreck of an old bus to the Wells schools and Councilman Hernandez repairs that and the school bus from the cannibal gang that was donated by Whyte Hat.  This allows kids from the local ranches to attend school.  The Wells school also restarts the local school Rodeo Club.  Team learns that the rodeo area south of the highway is the major local ‘sports’ destination.  The rodeo area is again hosting regular rodeos that bring many of the local ranchers in. 

• In May, Elko Transport, Whyte Hat’s official employer, announces that they will be providing low cost public bus service from West Wendover down Interstate 80 all the way to Carlin and back.  This service will have stops in all major towns and ‘flag stops’ at some of the smaller ones (in parenthesis).  The stops are: West Wendover, (Oasis), Wells, (Halleck), the City of Elko and Carlin.  At the end of the month Elko Transport also announces that they will also start providing supplementary school bus service to include all the local ranches around Wells and between the schools in Wells and Montello (with stops in Oasis) for the next Fall term.  They will provide this for the next two years.         

• At the beginning of June, B&B Technologies declares a dividend to stockholders totaling €1,000,000.  This comes to total €10,000 per share to each shareholder.  The payout date is July 1^st.  Samantha and Suzy are the largest stockholders with 35% apiece.  This gives €350,000 to each.  With a little quiet arm twisting from the government, Samantha donates €250,000 to the Wells Schools for the next year and €100,000 to the Montello School.  As Suzy is still a guest of the Federal Prison system, the government appointed managers of her money are convinced to give her share of €350,000 to Whyte Hat to purchase any major equipment or gear that the Team feels they need; or you could just save it as a ‘rainy day fund’.

When we restart it will be the evening of Sunday, June 10^th.  Mitzi will come to the command center at the airport and request your satellite check out a set of coordinates about 90 miles south of Interstate 80 in White Pine County near US 93.  The satellite sees an encampment of vehicles and horses along with about 300+ people.  Many of the vehicles are camouflaged so you can’t tell what they are.  The command center immediately dispatches a small Bumblebee Rotorcraft drone to check it out.  It takes about an hour to get there.  As it approaches the encampment all contact is lost with the drone.  Your satellite didn’t detect any missile launch at the drone.  Twenty minutes later contact is reestablished.  The drone again moves on the camp, but again contact is lost as it approaches.  It takes another hour or so, but the drone operator’s report that the encampment is covered with an ECM dome for about a kilometer.  Whyte Hat’s Force Commander puts all troops on alert.  This encampment is out of Whyte Hat’s operational area, but plans are made to deal with this group if it decides to come north. 

These are all interesting ideas here.  As to T.J.'s proposed charges, there isn't enough evidence to support a lot of them although Sargent Zuma is probably guilty of most, if not all.  However, there is enough evidence for the following charges:

Priority Four - Grand Larceny

Priority Three - Armed Robbery

Priority Two - Kidnapping, Manslaughter, Murder 2

Mikael makes some good points about the wisdom of leaving a discovered spy alone in order to learn more about his/her contacts, and while there is some wisdom in this, the US Marshals are Law Enforcement Officers and Sargent Zuma is their only lead in unraveling this conspiracy.  Add to this the fact that the Cayman Islands account that your NET Runners discovered is being drained away.  The pattern of withdrawals signals the possibility that the sergeant is getting ready to run or is in the process of doing so.  So,Teresa will apply for an arrest warrant, but NOT through the Elko County court system, due to the possibility, as 8-Ball suggests, that the corruption in the Elko County Sheriff's Department could run deeper than expected.  She will have the arrest warrant along with search warrants for the residences and offices of Sargent Zuma by Thursday morning (the next day).  So, while Mitzi, 8-Ball and Cossack (along with Mia and Celestine) head to Las Vegas on Thursday, Marshals Suárez, J.J. Hunter and T.J. Law will go to West Wendover arrest Sargent Zuma and execute the search warrants. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, on Wednesday it is discovered that one of the bodies collected from a destroyed Desert Devil's van at the Frenchie Road interchange was that of Chief Assistant Eureka County District Attorney Josh Peters.  The corpse was dressed in light body armor and was carrying a weapon so he was no prisoner.  Before this was known, Marshal Suárez agreed to let the Eureka County courts deal with the captured Desert Devils and four crooked Eureka County deputies in exchange for the Desert Devils ceasing raids on Interstate 80 for a year and having the Eureka County Sheriffs enforcing this agreement.  As a note, the Desert Devils agreed to this to get their people back and the fact that their raids on Interstate 80 are NOT their main source of income and supplies.  As mentioned earlier, that gang's interest has shifted over the years and they are now concentrating their depredations on US 50 and down into Clark County.  This is one of the reasons that the Free State government agreed to let the Marshals service and Whyte Hat commence operations in Elko County.  Although this is NOT explicitly stated in your authorization, the Free State government hopes you will deal with (read: destroy) the Desert Devils, .  Regardless Marshal Suárez is trying to figure out how to use the discovery of Eureka County ADA Josh Peters' body riding with the gang to her (and the Team's) advantage.     

It is important to note that Whyte Hat will begin escorting convoys starting on this coming Monday, March 26th.  The sensor NET that you have been building along Interstate 80 will be 100% operational by then.  Once operating most of Whyte Hat's military strength will be dedicated to highway protection.  This will leave most of the QRF, the Team and some drones to continue to take offensive action on bandit groups.  So far the company is on schedule in their operations. 

OK, after listening to various people's suggestions, here is what happens over the next couple of days after the murders of Commissioner Gunderson and his wife in the Wells Saloon. 

Sunday, March 18, 2074

From midnight on the three US Marshals and Captain Wilkins do an ‘intense’ interrogation of the survivor of the assassins.  They thoroughly break him and learn all about the small bandit group he is with.  Whyte Hat drones track the survivors back to their camp and begin surveillance.  Operations prepares an attack plan.  It is a small and unsophisticated group.  Whyte Hat will hit them that afternoon and start with non-lethal ammunition and overwhelming firepower.  The bandit camp is overrun with no fatalities on either side.  Teresa flies off with leader to undisclosed Federal facility (at Edwards COG) to have him interrogated.  She returns alone later that night.

Cossack goes to pick up ‘Penny’s half-sister but the China Motel & Casino never heard of her.  By this time the assassin has killed a neighbor of the girl’s in Montello and made off with Penny’s corpse and all evidence of her child’s paternity.     

Mitzi has eight Ronin Light Assault Rifles given to the militiamen of the 3^rd Commando whose weapons were taken from them.  Valerie flies home to Night City and school along with Angel. 

Monday, March 19, 2074:

Teresa makes a courtesy visit to the Sheriff’s sub-station in West Wendover which is adjacent to the State Border Patrol station (they share a large parking lot).  She brings T.J. Law, Mitzi and 8-Ball.  The Sheriff captain in West Wendover cheerfully greets everyone and gives them a tour of the building.  When Teresa mentions she hasn’t spoken to the State Border Patrol leader, the chief deputy makes a call and then walk them across the parking lot to meet Captain Roberts of the Border Patrol.  These meetings are friendly and cordial.  Mitzi asks for a gets a tour of the State Border Patrol station for everyone.  The transmission source location in the building is discovered to be the Border Patrol’s communication center on the first floor or either the office of State Patrol Lieutenant Gregory James or Sargent Roberto Zuma, the Elko County Sheriff’s liaison officer.  Unfortunately, everyone in the building has access to that communications room.  Teresa also lets it slip (privately) to Captain Roberts that she (the Team) has an inside source with the Desert Devils, but can’t reveal who.  The captain doesn’t even ask and offers to be of any help he can.  The judges are reluctant to issue blanket subpoenas to tear apart the single Deputy Sheriff and six State Border Patrol officers on just this evidence, so Teresa then asks (at 8-Ball’s suggestion) for subpoenas to just secretly looking into the seven officers financial records.  The judge grants this.          

Cossack & Celestine take position of their ‘new’ house.  These two also have a group of people from families of the locals who have been hired to service Whyte Hat’s vehicles and bring them housewarming gifts.

State Appeals court refuses to hear Roy Batty’s case, so 8-Ball is on the ballot for town constable!

Tuesday, March 20, 2074:

Marshals J.J. Hunter, T.J. Law and Captain Wilkins receive a call from Marshal Suárez.  The bandit leader has been broken and identified who hired them to do the killings.  It is Elwood George, the manager of the Luther’s Sports Bar & Grill, the one bar where Whyte Hat personnel are banned.  It is rumored that he is also Roy Batty’s go to guy for ‘dirty deeds’.  Along with this information Teresa also sends them arrest and search warrants for him, his house, office and any other real estate he or his wife owns.  The four immediately search for Elwood George and find his corpse at a hunting cabin his wife owned.  There is a video camera set up and still on although the memory is full.  The video contains Elwood George’s confession to paying for the assassination of Commissioner Gunderson.  He ‘claims’ he and he alone’ is responsible for this act.  The man confesses he has held a secret hatred for the three (Gunderson, Phelps & Hernandez) for years.  He apologizes to his family, his friends, his boss, his employees and the people of Wells in general.  The man then shoots himself on camera.  Phelps, Hernandez, Teresa and Mitzi don’t believe this “confession” and feel Roy Batty is involved in the murders last Saturday night.  Still, there is NO evidence and nothing (legally) to be done, yet.       

Meanwhile to the east, repairs are finished on highway bridges at Oasis.  Construction crew gets ready to head back to Wells to begin highway repair.  Parts of 3^rd Platoon in Oasis pack up for move to the new Whyte Hat base in Carlin.

Wednesday, March 21, 2074:

The 1^st Squad, 3^rd Platoon with Platoon HQ Section is transferred from Oasis to the new Carlin base and given a BTR-15, along with an ELINT & support section.   

By early afternoon, NET Runners from B&B Technologies make their first report on the finances of the seven LEOs at the state Border Patrol Station.  They find nothing on any of the State Border Patrol officers themselves, but Sargent Roberto Zuma, the Elko County Sheriff’s liaison officer has a couple of accounts in other states under a name registered as a dba in that second state.  More damning is a Cayman Islands account that used to have €330,000.  There is only €10,000 left in it.  On Sunday, March 18^th, €300,000 was transferred out to a Nevis Bank and all trace of it was lost from that point on.  On Monday, March 19^th €20,000 was withdrawn in cash from a branch bank in Las Vegas.

IMPORTANT POINT!!!:  Do you do anything about this before some of you go to Las Vegas tomorrow to see Red or do you wait until we reconvene for Episode 53?  

Today is an interesting day for unexpected discoveries.  The Elko County coroner (along with Jamal and Rue) identify one of the dead bodies from the Desert Devil’s Frenchie Road ambush as Chief Assistant Eureka County District Attorney Josh Peters.  The man was clearly riding with the Desert Devils (in one of the vans).  He hasn’t been reported missing yet.  Marshal Suárez contemplates on who to use this to her advantage.  

That evening the vote is taken for new Wells constable.  There are some speeches and residents are allowed to express their opinions on the candidates (respectfully).  Near the end Celestine stands to speak, after all she is now a resident of Wells, NV.  The poet/rocker delivers a stunning pro 8-Ball speech, extolling his courage in charging the assassins last Saturday night, saving others at risk of his own life, his actions against the Voodoo Boyz in Night City and the wasteland warrior gangs out here.  “This is the man who we need for Constable in Wells, a man who has moved here permanently and doesn’t fly south when it gets cold (this is a direct slap at Ron Batty’s candidate, his security chief).” 

I let the ASTRAL dice roller decide the Charismatic Leadership roll which was 2x natural 10’s plus a 4 for a total straight roll of 39 (add in +1 for Stress Chip & +3 LUCK) for a grand total of 43 to support him!  I left Celestine’s roll up on ASTRAL.

As expected each Councilman nominated a candidate and the first vote was always a customary single vote tie which can’t be broken by the mayor, who can only eliminate one candidate (of her choice) for a second vote.  All goes as expected until Dove, the Shoshone council member votes for 8-Ball and not her nominated candidate, Tom Harris. Because of this Councilman John Gifford doesn’t vote for his nominated candidate, Chief Constable Walter Renshaw‘s nephew, but joins Councilman Holden Cliburn in supporting Roy Batty’s candidate.  This has the effect of throwing the tie vote to the mayor who can vote on this first round since it wasn’t a ’single vote tie’.  Surprisingly) votes for the outsider, 8-Ball.  Who is immediately sworn in as the fourth Town Constable.  The crowd at the town is very supportive of the election in no small part to Celestine’s fiery pre-vote speech.  All the defeated candidates come up and give their congratulations, including Roy Batty’s security chief.  A rumor goes around that the Te-Moak councilwoman, Dove, and Tom Harris, the tribal policeman, conspired with Rafael Hernandez and William Phelps to get 8-Ball elected.

[GM Note:  My thought here was to have a small, minor altercation break out among the various factions of supporters, but decided that Celestine’s speech and 41 Charismatic Leadership roll smoothed any temporary bad feelings.    

Thursday, March 22, 2074:

Mitzi, 8-Ball, Mia, Cossack and Celestine fly to Las Vegas to talk with Red to sell some gear and inquire about the Visigoths of Halleck.

I will let everyone chew on these new bits of news and let people comment on where their focus should be from there.

Be well all!

The Team's battle at the Frenchie Road interchange with the Desert Devils went very well!  Yes, they did drive into your buzz saw of an ambush, so they had little chance of winning, but your tactical moves denied any a chance to escape.  Also, you suffered no real casualties, except maybe for Jess Wayne's pride as he had some awful shots with the HATGM.  Fortunately, none of his botched shots ended up killing your own side.  The Desert Devils' M-75 Light Tank was totally destroyed along with a few technicals and some bikes.  You do have a lightly damage Arasaka Combat 10 to repair and lots of weapons and gear from battlefield salvage.  When you combine this results with Mitzi's successful negotiations with the Jackpot officials (including the Duck Valley reservation and the Luftwaffe, the Idaho air pirates), the Team has successful entered into a year long truce with the Jackpot Raiders, the Desert Devils and the Luftwaffe.  When you add in the fact that the wasteland raiders from Trade Town are thoroughly cowed, the Team has successfully neutralized the major groups threatening traffic on Interstate 80.  Of course, the Team believes that the Desert Devils won't keep their word in the long run, but for now there is peace.  

Now, on to the second major issue of the session.  You now know that the assassination of Commissioner Gunderson and his wife along with the attempted killing of Councilman Hernandez on the last Saturday night was a planned hit.  Thanks to 8-Ball's quick thinking (and personal bravery), you did secure a live prisoner to interrogate.  In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Captain Wilkins (the local head of the sheriff's substation) rushed to the downed officials while Marshal Teresa Suárez announced that the survivor was under arrest.  This leads to a jurisdictional dispute that is easily settled when Teresa offers a joint investigation where the Elko Sheriffs take charge of the scene and the marshals take the lead on interrogating the prisoner.  Only LEOs are allowed to interrogate the prisoner who has no chance against the coordinated interrogation of Marshals J.J. Hunter, T.J. Law, Teresa Suarez and Captain Wilkins.  They crack him like a fragile egg.  He doesn't know who hired them for this.  The raid leader might have, but you killed him.  The overall bandit leader would know, but he didn't come on the raid.  The prisoner does identify all the rest of this bandit group and the defenses of their hide out, which are pathetic.  As to the exact location of their base, the prisoner is a little more vague, but that doesn't matter.  Whyte Hat's local sensor grid watches all movements within 7 kilometers of Wells.  The three gang's vehicles were immediately picked up fleeing town and were followed back to their hide out.  Marshal Suarez has ordered a plan for a Sunday afternoon attack on this group by some of the Team, the AV QRF, the AV-4 and various combat drones.  She wants everyone to carry non-lethal ammunition to start as she hopes to minimize casualties.  Intelligence calculates that there are only 8 combat effective gangers left, along with 6 non-combat females and 4 children.  The plan is to use the drones to destroy all their transport while the AVs (the 4 and EEC Airjeeps) deliver the ground forces under a barrage of smoke and ground fire to keep the gangs heads down.  Once the gangers are contained (they have been under constant drone surveillance so their locations are known.  Your prisoner will be brought along to convince them to surrender.  He has been shown videos of the recent destruction of the Desert Devils' raiding party and the devastating 5" rocket barrage.  A similar barrage will destroy the gang's hideout and probably kill everyone.  This (and Whyte Hat's now fearsome reputation) should force their surrender.

This takes us up to noon on Sunday, March 18, 2074.  I would like to handle as much as what comes next through this thread and PMs until we hit a 'scene' that needs to be run as an ASTRAL encounter.  So before we open this up to ideas from the Team, there is one (sad) piece of information you need to know to get us up to noon on Sunday, March 18th.  Cossack goes to the China Motel and Casino to pick up Gigi Jenkins, Penny's (alleged) half-sister, to drive her to Montello.  Gigi doesn't come down for breakfast and when Cossack inquires about her, the hotel says they never heard of her.  I will assume one of two things here, either Cossack calls the Whyte Hat garrison there (through the Whyte Hat comm system as he knows no phone numbers of the garrison).  A member of the garrison talks to the locals to find where Penny is staying but finds no Penny there, but there is a dead citizen of Montello who has been shot once in the back of the head and once in the heart.  By Sunday noon the Montello garrison has learned this:  A young woman calling herself, Gigi Jenkins, arrive last night looking for her 'half-sister'.  Your troops wouldn't know where she lived, but referred her to the Cowboy Bar, where the locals hung out.  "Gigi" ran her story by the locals and they swallowed it hook, line and sinker, just like the Team did.  A local left with Gigi to show her where Penny lived.  That was the last anyone saw Gigi.  Her car left and drove across the border into Utah and out from under Whyte Hat's surveillance net.  Penny is gone along with all evidence of who the father of her child was. 

[GM Note:  Sorry about this, but you should all know (as some of you might) that I keep a computer file in calendar form of how all the sub-plots are developing.  Penny's arc reached its end before you could figure out what was going on here.  If anyone wants to continue to look into this, let me know, otherwise only Marshal Suarez will spend some time (and she doesn't have a lot) to look into this.]  

Too bad, so sad; sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  Fortunately, this was a side plot.  What I really need to know from the Team is:  What are you doing about the fact that the radio transmission to the Desert Devils cam from a room in the Nevada State Border Patrol building in West Wendover?  You have never been there and your NET runners can't find any plans for the building that show who or what is in all the rooms of this building.  All the files regarding the Border Patrol officers and other employees are in secure Nevada State servers.  Your NET Runners won't attempt to penetrate them without a warrant to get at this information.  So, I need to know what your plans are for Sunday afternoon in regard to this.  There will be the storming of the bandit camp to acquire more prisoners including the gang leader who did negotiate the assassination contract and might know who he was dealing with.  Anyone who wishes to take part in the gang raid, that keeps you busy for Sunday.  What I need to know is if anyone moves on West Wendover on Sunday or are you going to deal with this later (Monday and beyond).  FYI, if no one has any ideas then Teresa plans to make a courtesy visit to that State Border Patrol station on Monday as Whyte Hat will have a 'day room' at the Elko County Sheriff's sub-station located there.  It is next door to the Nevada State Border Patrol station.  Note that she won't bring a huge entourage as she doesn't want to tip anyone off as to the true nature of her visit.  This plan is the fall back if no one else comes up with something better.

Now a general comment from the GM here:

While there has been a few missteps by the Team, you successes greatly outnumbered them.  In fact, you have derailed quite a number of my plots (Congratulations! I love it when my players do this!).  You should have noticed by now that there are two local power bases competing for power in Wells and by extension, eventually all of Elko County.  One of those groups is run by Roy Batty and the other has your allies, Commissioner Gunderson, Councilman Hernandez and William Phelps.  I never originally intended 8-Ball to run for the position of a Wells Constable, but his work with the militia made him the top candidate for the trio (now a duo) opposing Roy Batty.  Gunderson's death (and that of his wife) was also decided by ASTRAL's dice roller, not by GM fiat.  In fact it has opened up the local conflict to its next level.  Interstate 80 will be reopening soon under your protection, so the nature of this arc is going to undergo some changes.  The Team has come to terms with the most dangerous local bandit groups at least temporarily so you are well on your way for a successful reopening of the road.    

So, in closing, I will leave this here for a few days to allow everyone to let me know their Sunday and West Wendover plans.  I can then process everything else that is happening in the county to get us to our next playable encounter.  Hope you are all well and again, congratulations on smashing the Desert Devils' raid.  Let me know what you think here or in a PM.

It will be tight under the bridge, but both 8-Ball and the Swede could join the half quad and the US Marshal there, although one could also join the half squad that is setting up just SE of the bridge on the rise.  That half squad (with the Ma Deuce and its crew) will allow the bridge forces to have a cross fire situation on the Desert Devils' vanguard.  You might want to set up the Swede with this flanking force.  Also, all of your infantry are from the Quick Reaction Force and are in Militech EMA-1 armor and are all decent solos.  Many of them have a light LAW.  I might suggest 8-Ball or the Swede take the RPG-A you recently captured.  

I have checked the map and yes, you can hide an EEC Airjeep on the north side of the highway bridge and out of sight of approaching vanguard.  Each Airjeep has a dedicated crew (pilot and gunner), and 8-Ball doesn't have an AV Pilot chip, he has a Pilot: Hover +3 chip.  The airjeep will be there to help you pursue the enemy when they break (hopefully).

The Team has the HATGM (Militech Anvil 2), two Militech RPV-500 Tiltrotors (chaingun, 2x 5" rockets, 2x LATGM and one with a teleoptically guided HATGM, the other with a AAM).  The A-20 Panzer also has an LATGM launcher with 5 extra reloads.  There is also the 40mm Auto GL which can have HEDP rounds, and the AV-4.  You are well covered for anti-vehicle work.   

As to your other points:

• We'll need a PC team to investigate the signal source. Preferably an AV-borne team. - Yes, this will need to be  investigated quickly after the fight, if you can spare the time and personnel. 
• I guess 8-Ball would be a good choice to go with Mitzi to the Duck Valley reservation. - Again, yes, this is where Reputation comes into play.  The higher your Rep, the more they will listen in this upcoming meeting.  You have a REP 6 and Mitzi is a REP 7, so you have some 'juice' here.
• Alright, so we have Pretty Penny accounted for (shiny!). We can guesstimate what makes her so terrified (and who is the father of her future kid...) - my guess would be the rich asshole whose kid she was a nanny for. He was rich, he was an asshole, and he wouldn't be above trying to take revenge on her if he learned she has been rescued (he didn't give a damn about us asking how did she look like, since she was unrecognizable from the picture he left us. Probably wasn't a picture of her to begin with). We can punch him in the nose if he shows up around again, but apart form that - sorry, we have other problems here. If she wants to live peacefully in Montello, well, I see no reason to put my fingers into that matter. - The picture that you have isn't a good one, but now that you know, it is clear that she has changed her hairstyle & color to look differently.  You don't know what the story is, but she seems content to live in Montello.  The Team knows who she is now, but Penny doesn't know that you know. 
• Yup, keep the Visigoths in mind. We didn't really had time to visit them (and I think it should be us visiting them. Do it on their territory). - You haven't had time (or a settled plan) to deal with the Visigoths, but they haven't really been any trouble yet, so this has been (correctly) on the back burner, so to speak.
• On family matters, I'll send you a PM. - And I will reply with a PM, but all your plans there seem quite doable.

The plan for this Saturday is to start with the Desert Devils' fight and then deal with the other pressing issues: the location of the radio transmissions in Wendover / West Wendover area.  The 'peace talks' with the Jackpot Raiders at the Duck Valley Reservation.  Of course, the fight at the Frenchie Road interchange on Interstate 80 may have some consequences that will need to be dealt with.  Still, you seems to have a good plan to move forward!

Striking the Desert Devils will work best, legally, if they are right by the highway and we have their comms with the crooked Eureka County deputies recorded.  It might be possible that some could escape because we aren't hitting in the narrow defile, but a good pursuit should be planned.  

Now, as to Mikael's Notes:

• Since Theresa anticipates being fired upon as soon as she challenges the Devils, I'd suggest she did it through a remotely-operated loudspeaker. They might get lucky with their shots.  - Yes, she (or one of the other Marshals) will be doing this through a remote loudspeaker.  The half squad and any other PCs under the bridge will try to be hidden until the shooting starts
• Chaingunning the reactive armor on the tank would make sense only ....  The chain guns on these remotes fire 12.7 LAPHE ammunition mixed with some fragmenting anti-personnel with an ROF of 150.  These weapons (2) will chew through the Reactive Armor in short order.  The 40mm Auto GL could start with HEDP on the M-75 tank.  With four ATGM launchers in reserve, the tank should go down in short order. 
• Keep in mind that game-wise, Combat 10 is a rather tough target, too. - Yes, it is indeed a tough target and actually harder to kill than the M-75, but the tank's 75mm gun is a much more serious threat then the Arasaka Combat 10's weapons.  The 40mm cannon can't penetrate the front or side armor either the A-20 or the GMI HovTransport.  Its mini-gun is a threat, but Cossack can keep himself at range and still tear apart (eventually) the Combat 10  
• You have mentioned an important asset in the support group: armored recovery vehicle. Now, it won't be important in the fight - it isn't a combat asset, really - but we definitely would do better if we deprive the Devils of it in the longer run.  - Absolutely!  Every effort should be made to capture them, but if that isn't possible, then they need to be destroyed to deny them to the Desert Devil's.

Teresa hasn't made any assignments to where she thinks the PC's (& combat buddies) should go except for Jesse Wayne (manning the HATGM launcher w/crew) and Cossack who will be leading the attack on the Desert Devil's main column.  She does have a few ideas: 

• Marshal J.J. Hunter under the interstate bridge with a half squad ordering the vanguard to surrender (through a remote loudspeaker, of course.)  A little PC support here would be good.
• Marshal T.J. Law might wish to be under the bridge or up on the hill north of the Interstate with his anti-material rifle; his choice
• Teresa herself would like to start up on the hill north of the Interstate and be in the NET.  She will co-pilot on of the Militech RPV-500 Tiltrotor, but will be the primary gunner for one to two bursts of the chaingun before riding your only teleoptically targeted HATGM into (hopefully) the engine compartment of the M-75.  After that she will drop out of the NET and be available to lay down fire with her anti-material rifle, while the drone swings south to cut off any retreat.
• 8-Ball, Jamal and the Swede can pick their own ground.
• The AV-4 with its rockets and mini-guns will arrive (again, hopefully) soon after the beginning of the fight.
• One EEC Airjeep with Team members should be ready to pursue any fleeing Desert Devils. 

So, I think we have the beginnings of a plan!

Other things that need to be considered:

• You should also note that by evening Whyte Hat's SIGINT will have pinpointed the location of the transmission that tipped off the Desert Devils to within 5 meters.  This will need to be investigated quickly. 
• Also, on the day after this fight, Mitzi is slated to have a 'talk' with the leader of Jackpot in Owyhee at the Duck Valley Reservation.  She may bring two people, but NO COPS!  Everyone's safety is guaranteed by the tribal elders.
• One of the Team has overheard that the pregnant 'mystery girl' from Salt Lake City rescued from Jackpot is indeed Pretty Penny, but she is quite terrified and is posing as someone else.  Whatever her story is, feel good that you did save her from slavery.  She has decided to settle in Montello.
• You still should have a chat with the Visigoths at some point, but they haven't been any sort of trouble, so all is quiet on that front.  
• The day after we restart (a Friday)  both Mia and Celestine will be arriving from Night City.  Mia's and 8-Ball's apartment is move in ready, but Cossack's new house is being signed on, next Monday.

I have already started on maps as ASTRAL is back up.  Hope this gives you all food for thought.

Yes, we do need to explain (eventually) how we knew the Desert Devils were planning to attack the convoy without tipping our hand that we have cracked their communications codes.  That is Marshal Suárez's responsibility to deal with them.  Her initial response will be, "None of your damn businesses!  The Marshal service's investigatory methods and operational methods are NOT open for discussion." 

Yes, this will probably outrage some local officials, but Teresa will take the heat.  She is very interested in who will object the loudest to her intransigence .  This might give us a clue on who is in active opposition to our plans.  Depending on how much 'juice' other investigators' have, she may well have to say something.  Mikael's idea of crediting the information to our 'inside man' is a great idea and she will run with that if forced.  However, she feels she can hold off inquiries for weeks and maybe months.  As you may have noticed, Teresa isn't a friendly sort and really doesn't care what people think of her.  She doesn't interact socially with anyone and has ignored any attempt to 'get to know her' much to Captain Wilkins' (the head deputy in Wells) disappointment.  

Whyte Hat's SIGINT people have already compromised the Desert Devils' comm channels and has the channel that their raiders will use to communicate with themselves and the Eureka County deputies who are involved with the raid.  All communications are being recorded.  Teresa intends to arrest the Eureka deputies, if they detain the hired commercial guards so the bandits can attack the convoy.  She has studied all of the reports for the past several years.  She did this during the past couple of last months with all of her visits to the City of Elko and meetings with Sheriff Johnson.  Any hijacking at the Frenchie Road location follows a pattern:

The crooked Eureka deputies stop the target convoy about a mile over the county line Eureka / Elko County line.  The convoy is ordered to continue after their guards are arrested and is assured that the deputies have secured the road ahead so it is safe to continue.  Once the convoy is on its way, the deputies signal (she believes) the Desert Devils, who stop and seize some, if not all the cargo.  The bandits jam the convoy's radios and seize them before forcing survivors, if any, to drive on to Battle Mountain.

With the time you have before the Desert Devil's are in position, Whyte Hat can get the Hover Units, the AV-4 with their QRF squads, the two EEC Airjeeps with the Team and both of their Militech RPV-500 Tiltrotors, the Bumblebee and (long endurance) UAV surveillance drone in position.  Teresa wants the QRF to hide as the Eureka County deputies go by and get in position.  Whyte Hat will beat them to the county line and has time to get into position(just barely) before the Desert Devils arrive.  Once the deputies detain the guards and send the convoy on, the Desert Devils will move forward to take control of the Frenchie Road intersection.  

Currently the UAV surveillance drone is watching the Desert Devil's head north.  It has a vanguard of one technical with a DShK mounted and 14 bikes.  The main body is an M-75 Light Tank, an old Arasaka Combat 10, three more technicals and 20 more bikes.  The follow-up force (to transport the loot) has one armed technical, 6 bikes, a tractor-trailer rig, a tank recovery vehicle, a large commercial style tow vehicle and two medium box trucks.  The distance between each of these three groups varies from 600 meters to one kilometer apart from each other.

As to where to hit the bandits, Teresa wants to do this in sight of the Interstate.  The legal battle that will surely follow this fight will be with Eureka County over jurisdiction.  She wants the Desert Devils' fight to occur as close to the highway as possible so there is no doubt that they were up to no good.  This and the intercepted communications will give the Marshals and Whyte Hat legitimacy for their actions.  From the reports she has read about similar hijacking attempts here, they always come up Frenchie Road, but the people from the Canyon Nursery never see them, or else never claim to, so there is no one to implicate the Desert Devils in these raids.  Sheriff Johnson believes the people there are either in on the raids or are too afraid to do anything about it.  Teresa doesn't want to to get near the Canyon Nursery in case the people there might tip off the Desert Devils of the ambush.  

Teresa's initial suggestion is to have the AV QRF squad to dig in (hide) on the rises north of the highway interchange with Jesse Wayne with the HATGM launcher and the squad's 40mm Auto GL.  From this point they will be able to rain death down on the vanguard and main body as they close on the highway.  The Hover QRF squad will set up a cross fire to defend under the highway bridge.  Under the bridge will also be a (borrowed) vehicle with a US Marshal.  The LEO will order the vanguard to surrender (from cover) and will likely be immediately fired upon.  That will be the signal for the Hover QRF to open fire on the vanguard.  The two Militech RPV-500 Tiltrotors will rise up and fire on the M-75 light tank with their chainguns.  This will probably NOT take them out, but it should detonate most (if not all of) the Reactive Armor.  This will open up the tank to destruction by the HATGM on the hill, the LATGMs from the drones and the A-20 Panzer.  The enemy tank should go down quickly, leaving the Arasaka Combat 10 as the only serious armored vehicle the enemy has.  The A-20 and GMI Hover Transport should be able to kill it quickly.  The B&B Technologies Strategic Battle Mapper will be watching the approach of the enemy and give the hover vehicles the heads up on when to begin their attack runs.

Teresa anticipates the main body of the Desert Devils will initially dismount and prepare to engage.  The AV-4 will then come in and lay down rocket barrages on the main body to disrupt that.  She expects that the Desert Devils will see they have been ambushed and probably pull back.  The two Tiltrotors will swing around to the south after the first two rounds and cut off any retreat.  One QRF squad will remount their vehicle to pursue and the other QRF squad will prepare to meet the (most probably incoming) Eureka County Sheriffs.  These crooked cops are to be taken alive.  Non-lethal weapons should be used if they resist.  She wants prisoners!  Quarter is to be given to the Desert Devils if they surrender; again prisoners are wanted.  

The Eureka County Sheriff's Department may mobilize to come north.  The Team needs to be off the battlefield by then and safely back in Elko or Lander County (Battle Mountain).  The crooked deputies will probably respond to the firefight and they must be taken, ALIVE.  Hopefully, the M-75 will be in salvageable condition and, if so, we need to secure it.  She wants every Desert Devils vehicle taken or destroyed.        

Well, yesterday's episode went very well, considering the technical problems with ASTRAL, which is back up and running today.  You all came up with a good plan and executed it well.  Between the hostages you rescued and those sent back to you from Trade Town, that brings 20 more people back to Montello.  This will bring the population of that town up to 35, not counting the forces you have based there.  That is almost enough to make the town self-sustaining. 

Mitzi meanwhile is still at the Snake Nation Reservation (Goshute) and making friends there.  The member of the Oasis Snakes that went with her is also trying to recruit others to join them, not only in Oasis, but also to maybe move to Montello.  The remaining citizens of that town have been talking with the Snakes and are realizing they have more in common with the Nomad group then they realized.  We'll see what changes this brings in the future.

Slight change in future game plans.  Mitzi's meet with the leader of the Jackpot Raisers will be Sunday, March 18th.  She can bring two people with her.  She mentioned that this should be 8-Ball and Cossack.  She and others will fly into Owyhee (yes, they have an airport, which Elko Air flies into regularly).  

FYI, when we restart in two weeks it will be Thursday, March 15, 2074.  In the early am, the Team's commitment of its SIGINT assets and persistence in monitoring radio transmissions from the Wendover / West Wendover area finally pays off.  A coded transmission from there is picked up and a brief conversation goes back and forth between that area and the Desert Devils' lair near Alpha.  As Teresa has already broken the code, you can read it immediately.  A shipment of high end computers and cyberdecks is passing along Interstate 80 to Reno.  It is being defended by a technical and an armored SUV from one of the small groups that do escort service in this area.  The Desert Devils answer and will dispatch 23 bikers, three cars & two dune buggies (3 gangers apiece) along with an old Arasaka 10 (10 + 2 gangers) and their M-75 light tank.  Eureka County Deputies are in on this and will detain guards just after border with Eureka County.  This cops will insist the convoy continue on immediately (into the Desert Devils ambush).  The Desert Devils will attack at the Frenchie Road interchange of Interstate 80.  

Although Whyte Hat's patrols don't officially begin for ten more days, the US Marshals with you do have authority and call on Whyte Hat (with whom they are also under contract with) to mobilize to intercept this attack.  Marshal Suárez, the senior US Marshal, has done her planning.  She mobilizes the Team, the Hover unit (the Dacian Wolf with the GMI Hover Transport & QRF squad) and the AV-4 with its QRF squad.  A Militech RPV-500 Tiltrotor will be sent to back them up for fire support along with a Bell Bumblebee Rotorcraft and a high altitude UAV for electronic support.  The Team will be dispatched with the two EEC Airjeeps.  Teresa has calculated that the Hover and AV units can arrive well before the Desert Devils' forces at the ambush point.  She wants to let the crooked Eureka County deputies stop the guarding technicals and let the convoy through.  Whyte Hat's SIGINT will monitor any transmissions between these cops and the bandits.  Her intention is to arrest these crooked deputies, if she can prove they were communicating with the bandits during this operation.  As for the incoming Desert Devils, she wants to ambush them just before they get in position to stop the convoy.  The Free State of Nevada has already declared the Desert Devils a 'criminal menace' so attacking them has little legal blowback.  

The Desert Devils' column will be traveling up NV 278 then head west on Palisade Ranch Road, 3rd Street and the eastern extension of Frenchie Road till that road turns north.  Frenchie Road then heads through the mountains until it reaches Interstate 80.  Teresa considers this an important action.  If she can prove a connection between the Desert Devils and the Eureka County Sheriff's Department, this will drive a wedge between these two groups or at least force Eureka County to cooperate less with this bandit group lest they incur the wrath of the Free State government.  

Anyway, that is where we are heading next.  Hopefully we can get the planning down for this so we can jump right in in two weeks when we get together again.  So, let me know what you think about how you want to go about this.

Unfortunately, the Town of Montello is now your (moral) responsibility.  Your political enemies (often more dangerous than bandits) will make the destruction in Montello look like the Team's incompetence (at best) or a lack of caring about the citizens of Elko County (at worst).  This hasn't happened yet, but Commissioner Meadows, who is running the 'inquiry' into what happened in Montello is just getting warmed up.

As to Oasis, the highway overpass should be repaired just before the Interstate officially reopens under Whyte Hat protection.  The actual support spans have been pre-built and are already on site.  The Oasis Snakes have mellowed a bit in regards to the people of Montello, since learning that town to their north has been devastated.  They have also come to realize that part of the reason for the locals hostility is that the people of Montello thought the Oasis Snakes were willing participants with the Madmen in their depredations, and of course, the people of Montello thought that the Oasis Snakes were allies of the Madmen.  The people of these two towns have begun to talk about their mutual problems.  They have a ways to go, but seem to be at least communicating in a helpful and civil manner with each other.

The Wendover Source is still a mystery, but your SIGINT people are concentrating assets to pick up and locate exactly where these radio transmissions are coming from.  Teresa considers the Team's work on this, and the knowledge that someone is tipping off raider groups to the presence of valuable cargoes moving on Interstate 80, as 'classified' information and not to be shared with anyone outside Whyte Hat's SIGINT and the core Team members.  

The Visigoths of Halleck should probably be contacted at some point.  Right at present you are all a little busy, but dealing with the gang will be rising up on your to do list in the next couple of weeks.  There was some talk earlier about possibly going in to "talk" with some heavy support as back-up.  If they are selling HATGMs, they probably have some themselves and that approach could turn into a bloody confrontation.  Your ideas on approaching them in the previous post above here is probably a better idea.  

The Desert Devils are indeed your most dangerous adversary.  Fortunately, this gangs' focus is to their south.  They claim Route US 50 (called the loneliest road in America) and as you already know, they probably have an agreement with the Eureka County Sheriff.  This group actually hates you. You did "hand them their ass" over a year ago in Rachel, NV.  I would like to point out that waging "a guerilla type campaign" against them has some problems.  They have to defend one settlement, you have to defend a long highway.  Who is more vulnerable to this type of fighting?

Marshal Suárez feels that the Desert Devils, Montello Madmen, the Snake Nation Reservation, Jackpot Raiders, Trade Town and Visigoths the are the most dangerous of your (possible) adversaries.  If they ally with each other, then your mission in Elko County is doomed to failure.  She believes that the complete destruction of the Montello Madmen is necessary to secure the eastern part of Interstate 80 and to make an example.  The Jackpot Raiders have already attacked Whyte Hat, so a strike now at Jackpot, not only hunts down the Madmen, but is also pay back.  The running anti-bandit 'training' maneuvers between Wells and Trade Town this weekend is both a feint to draw attention from our real target: the Montello Madmen in Jackpot and a demonstration (warning) to Trade Town about the dangers of sheltering the Montello Madmen who fled there.  Trade Town has shown some desire to cooperate as evidenced by them turning over the cannibal gang members there to the Elko County Sheriff's office. 

As you learned last session, Valerie, came with the B&B Technologies team to bring their new Strategic Battle Mapper on line in Wells.  She contacted her family at the Snake Nation Reservation and expressed Mitzi's desire to have a talk with them.  They have agreed to meet only if Mitzi comes alone (with Valerie, of course).  The Oasis Snakes have already spoken to the reservation and endorsed this meeting.  They will send one of their senior leaders to escort Mitzi and Valerie and act as mediators.  Mitzi has accepted this invitation and will leave almost immediately.  This will also make her unavailable to any subpoena that Commissioner Meadows sends her way.

The Team's next action will be against the Montello Madmen in Jackpot.  On that first night (Thursday, March 8th), Teresa and Jamal will execute a HALO jump from just over 30,000 feet wearing radar absorbent armor.  They will land about 2 miles west of Jackpot in a gulch where Cottonwood Creek runs through.  They will move up that water course to Salmon Falls Creek and take that to the 200 meter rise just west of Jackpot.  Once there, the two will recon the area's defenses and the buildings where the Madmen's vehicles were seen. 

If hostages are found and/or the Madmen's lair is discovered, then on the evening of Saturday, March 10th, an EEC Airjeep will bring in more of a strike team and land them in the beginning of the Cottonwood Creek gulch about 10 miles from Jackpot.  If the airjeep keeps low it can use the high ground from Grassy Mountain south to the Ellen D Mountain to shield its approach.  From there the rest of the Strike Team will follow Cottonwood Gulch to near Jackpot to meet Jamal and Teresa.  

Hopefully by that point, Teresa will have figured out how to disable the radar array.  In the early a.m. of Sunday, March 11th, the Strike Team will free whatever hostages they can find and maybe put a 'hurt dance' on the Montello Madmen.  Pick-up will be by the AV-4 which will also follow Cottonwood Creek up to Jackpot, then they will pop over the hill to the west of town and scoop up the Team and (hopefully) a group of liberated hostages.

If successful, then Whyte Hat's Public Information officer will arrange for the press to be on hand when the Team and hostages (or at least some Madmen prisoners) arrive in the City of Elko.  This is a raid and, with the exception of crippling Jackpot's air defenses, we should stay away from damaging too much of Jackpot's infrastructure.  Again, if all goes well, then we should make it clear to everyone that anyone who shelters the Montello Madmen (and their hostages) will be hunted.  Those who help us will earn our favor.  This is aimed at Trade Town, who has already shown a desire to attempt to work with us.  Admittedly this is a risky play, but we need to show that Whyte Hat is willing to take risks to help the people of Elko County in ways that go beyond our stated mission to reopen Interstate 80.  

Jamal and Teresa have already made their jump , stealth and multiple awareness / notice rolls.  They have located the radar array with bunker, a SAM Missile site, the Montello Madmen's compound with maybe about 10 possible hostages and Jackpot's road defenses.  Your two Special Ops scouts assess that the defenses of Jackpot are built to defend against a large scale ground attack from the north, south and east.  The approaches from the west are primarily monitored electronically as a large ground attack from that direction is almost impossible.  

Teresa suggests one of two possible assault plans based on the skills of Whyte Hat's support personnel.     

#1 -  Montello Madmen's compound strike team: 8-Ball, T.J. Hunter, Teresa, Jamal and J.J. Hunter.  Radar strike team: the Swede and Jesse Wayne.  In this scenario, the main team will launch a quiet (at the beginning anyway) attack to free the hostages when the AV-4 in on the way.  Once the Team's AV-4 starts to get close to the radar array. the Radar Strike Team will disable / destroy the radar array and missile site and begin to rain down 40mm grenades on parts of the town (not any housing) to cover the hostage jailbreak.  The AV-4 will swoop in to pick up the hostages and main strike team.  An EEC Airjeep will pick up the radar array strike team and all will return to the City of Elko.

#2 -  Montello Madmen's compound strike team: 8-Ball, T.J. Hunter, Jesse Wayne, the Swede, Jamal and J.J. Hunter.  The radar strike team is just Teresa.  In this scenario, the main team will also launch a quiet (at the beginning anyway) attack to free the hostages when the AV-4 in on the way.  Up on the hill just to the west of Jackpot where the radar array and SAM site, Teresa will either blow up or electronically sabotage the radar and missile site.  Again, the AV-4 will sweep in and pick up the hostages and their rescuers.  There will be no EEC Airjeep to pick up Teresa as she will evade and escape on foot.  She will travel 10 to 15 miles cross country and eventually call for a pick up far from Jackpot.  This way, no launched 40mm grenades will kill any of Jackpot's civilians and the compound strike team is a little larger. 

Teresa favors option #2 as it lessens the chance of innocents being killed and gives the Compound Strike Team six members instead of five.  This does leave Teresa alone, but that is how she likes it.  Her response to the fact that Jackpot may launch a pursuit for her is, "I hope they do.  If so, they will all soon realize that they are the hunted and not me."

Now, as to the Rules of Engagement (ROE) for this operation:  The Montello Madmen are fair game although the Team should only engage them to protect the Team's presence in Jackpot before the hostages are secured.  Once the fight is on, then they are subject to immediate execution for kidnapping under the Highway Regulations.  US Route 95 goes through Jackpot and that authority extends 5 miles on either side of that road.  Still, there will be no 'back tapping' of downed enemies.  As to the other residents of Jackpot, you may fire only if fired upon or approached by armed combatants once hostilities commence.  I will try to have a map of the Montello Madmen's  compound in Jackpot by this coming Thursday.    

Also, the following weekend (in game), Celestine and Mia will be arriving in Wells.  8-Ball's and Mia's apartment should be ready for occupation, but Cossack's and Celestine's new house will still need some work.  She is fine living in Cossack's base housing until their house is ready.  It will take four to six weeks for that house to be finished, but it can be occupied in a week or so.  

In Wells, the people are very busy getting the school ready for its reopening this spring.  The influx of cash to do this has raised your (the Team's) reputation in the county.  Between you all and Roy Batty's financial contributions, everything should be ready to open on time: Monday, March 26th.  This is also the date that Whyte Hat must begin their convoy escort / protection services.  

OK, I hope this can get you started on your planning.  Shoot me any questions or other information that you feel you need (and I will provide, if I can).

The military has a saying that 'no plan survives contact with the enemy".  The gaming corollary is "no GMs plan survives encounters with the Party!"

Oh well, you never got to see most of my NPCs and (what was supposed to be) the main battlemap.  I assumed (silly me) both T.J. and Mitzi would go into the basement and safe rooms in the two locations where the Montello citizens were hiding to make sure they were indeed 'safe'.  Inside one was the daughter of a Montello resident and a gang member who had fallen in love with her.  You did get to meet him later after all hell had broken loose and the plan was already in the crapper!  He would have cheerfully handed over the location of the second group of hostages.  A small recon force (1 gun truck and 13 bikers) would have been dispatched (to their deaths) towards the 'Notch'.  My thought was that the Stealth Team (or at least Mitzi and T.J.) would head to the second group of hostages.  By the time they reached the hostages, the missile positions would be neutralized and the Recon Force dealt with.  Then either the rest of the Team (from the Notch) comes in in the EEC Airjeep or the GMI Hover Transport arrives.  Yes, the Montello Madmen would have still fled, however, there would be fewer of them with no hostages tied to their vehicles.  Cossack with the A-20 along with the BTR-15s and drones could handle them.  But, this isn't the way it turned out.  

So, What to do about Montello? 

First of all, Whyte Hat can't abandon the town and they can't make the people leave (they won't).  If Whyte Hat leaves, either the Montello Madmen (or someone like them) will return.  As it stands now, Marshal J.J. Hunter and one squad of the 3rd Platoon are stationed there, supported by a 8 person command / support section and a Hummer with a 40mmAuto GL (19 total).  This is actually four more people than the entire population of Montello, but Teresa doesn't consider this over.  More on that at the end of this.

As to trying to track the weapons, many of their best and newest have had serial numbers removed (or falsified).  Angel thinks some of the erasures resemble the work done on weapons that Whyte Hat has gotten from Red.  Your Intelligence section notes that your "Montello Romeo" (the ganger who is marrying the local) reports that some of the gang drove south to pick up a weapons load including 1x HAGTM, 3x LATGM, 1x RPG-B, 4x RPG-a, Scorpion AA launcher and a Stinger V along with small arms and ammunition.  They were gone for just over one hour.  On that same day the Visigoths Motorcycle Club drove by escorting a large truck.  The Oasis Snakes confirm that the Visigoths turned north on NV 233 that day and came back just about an hour later.  The after action survey confirms the destruction of 1x LATGM, 1x RPG-B, 1x RPG-a, and the capture of 1x HATGM & 1x RPG-A.  This leaves 2x LATGM, 2x RPG-a, Scorpion AA launcher and a Stinger V unaccounted for.  

Oasis

Yes, the Oasis Tax Collectors are no more.  You will have learned by now that the Tax Collectors and the Montello Madmen had a disagreement about control of this highway interchange that was settled in a blaze on gunfire (from Montello Romeo).  Looking at the map, this is a key town on Interstate 80 and oversees one of the most dangerous stretches of highway.  Right now there is a full construction crew at the intersection and they are rebuilding the highway bridges.  They are being guarded by the two remaining squads of the Third Platoon.  Based in Oasis is the Mechanized squad of the QRF with its BTR-15 APC with a four person signals section.  The Oasis Snakes are hired to provide vehicle maintenance.    Marshal T.J. Law is based here.  (39 total plus Oasis Snakes)

Wendover

Yes, we know this group exists.  As far a Teresa is concerned, this is classified 'Whyte Hat only - need to know'.  She has come to respect Captain Wilkins in Wells and the Chief Sheriff in Elko, but those LEOs in Wendover and West Wendover she doesn't.  To that end, the Whyte Hat Surveillance unit is keeping watch on that area electronically.  The units at Montello and Oasis are operating RDF (radio direction finder) equipment for any further transmissions.  Someone has suggested running a sting operation to see if the leaks to the bandit groups are connected to state line cargo inspections.  This sounds like a good idea.  What kind of cargo should you dangle?

Visigoths of Halleck        

There has been no contact between Whyte Hat and this group.  It is important to remember that they are the law in Halleck.  Yes, they need to be talked with, politely.

Desert Devils

I agree, this is the number one threat to your success in Nevada.  They are a power in their own right and seems to have the protection of the Sheriff of Eureka County.  They have a number of tanks and lots of personnel.  For now, their eyes are generally focused south towards Las Vegas and US 50.  

What Next?     

By the end of the session the 'Montello Romeo' has given you enough information on the names of the leadership of the Madmen and the fact that they have properties in Jackpot and Trade Town.  You now know that the group that fled north went to Jackpot and the south group went to Trade Town.  Also, authorities in Utah have found four bodies believed to have been take from Montello when the Madmen fled.  That leaves nine of the northern hostage group unaccounted for.  It is confirmed that there are a number of 'slaves' being held in the 'entertainment' sections of the town.  Some are fed into the blood sport rings.  Also, over the past months, the (former) Montello Madmen had sold ten others from Montello into the 'slave dens' of Jackpot.  With 'Romeo's' help, Teresa has identified the Madmen's location in Jackpot.  As far as she is concerned, this ain't over!

County Commissioner Gail Meadows, who is NO friend to the Team, but polite enough to wear a mask, is running a week long "inquiry" into what happened in Montello.  When all is said and done Whyte Hat can't afford to have run an operation that cost over 60% of the town's population.  So, no one who was actually in the Town of Montello along with 8-Ball, the ground commander, and Cossack, the panzer (hover) leader, will be available.  If you didn't see it, you can't testify to it.  N one speaks of the Battle Mapper System as that is classified (again). 

3-8-74: Valerie has contacted her family and they are willing to meet Mitzi, IF she comes alone (well, with Valerie, of course) to the Snake Nation Reservation.  The Reservation will send someone to pick them up.  The Oasis Snakes have also vouched for you.  This puts Mitzi out of reach of a subpoena.       

3-9-74: In the very early am, Cossack with the Dacian Wolf and the whole Hover Unit and, if 8-Ball & Constable Humphries agrees, the 3rd Commando will join them as its monthly weekend ‘training’ time for “field exercises” in the flat lands 8 to 10 miles south of Wells towards the ‘Trade Town’ (Shanty Town).  The local militia know the area.  There will be official announcements that Whyte Hat is doing a training and anti-bandit sweep.  This operation will have full drone support.

3-10-74:  The “Field Exercise” is joined by a BTR-15 with regular squad aboard and  the AV-4 with its QRF squad are also there.  They move further south, but still at least 15 miles from Shanty Town.  In the evening they pull back a bit, but remain forward deployed.  This "Field Exercise" is both a tactical feint for the Jackpot Operation and a dare to any small gang wanting to test itself.  Orbital Assets will watch the Desert Devils closely as they are the only real organized threat in the south.  The AV-4 moves to Wells and an EEC Airjeep moves to Elko.  Later at night an EEC Airjeep takes a strike team in (PCs) and lands four hours away from Jackpot.

3-11-74:  By now Teresa and Jamal should have located the Montello Madmen and hopefully some of the people they kidnapped.  Either way, early in the am, a quick strike on Jackpot and get pulled out by AV-4.  Drone support will be switched to Jackpot for this operation.    

The press will be contacted to get out the message about what the Montello Madmen have been doing (raiding, killing, slaving etc.) and that no place that harbors them will be safe.  In two game weeks Whyte Hat will be committed to escorting convoys and protecting all traffic on the road.  Also, Mia and Celestine will be arriving in the first game week.     

Weather for February 17, 2074 in Montello, NV:

At dawn the Temperature will be about 20 degrees Fahrenheit with the wind from the NW at 3.4 MPH.  It will be partly cloudy with almost no chance of rain.  As the sun rises, the temperature should begin to rise to 37 degrees Fahrenheit for the day with the wind moving slightly to the west, but no higher than 7 MPH.  The clouds will dissipate as the morning continues and the rest of the day will be clear of clouds.

Now as to artillery ammunition, there are just 50 rounds of HE, 10 rounds of marking smoke and 10 rounds of (old style) canister shot.  Teresa and Jesse have talked and they will initially range the artillery with the smoke marking rounds.  Once they have a target hit, they will begin the barrage.  The ROF of a Krupp 75mm Mountain Gun is 6 to 8 rounds a minutes.  This novice gun crew can probably manage 5 rounds a minute.  Their plan is to (hopefully) make the five rounds a minute and fire only 10 HE rounds.  This should deny the missile battery time to move once the HE rounds start landing on the building.  The shell flight time is about 20 seconds (6 combat rounds).  This puts the entire initial artillery attack at 2 minutes.   

Hopefully by that time, there will be some kind of reaction by the Montello Madmen.  If the drones can get a better location on the NE missile position (at present only 58% certainty), then they will commence firing on that position.  From there, it will depend on what the Montello Madmen do.

As a note, once the attack starts, the drones will NOT strike any targets inside the town as any MANPADS the Madmen have will now be on alert.  You can't afford to lose a drone.  They will be available to strike targets outside of town and any vehicle that tries to escape.

So, we have a plan it seems.  

Hopefully this will clear up your confusion.  The fight at Oasis occurred yesterday (game time) in the afternoon.  Whyte Hat has been mobilizing since then, but your total forces are doing this before a) the third platoon arrives from Night City, b) the Drone Control Center is operational and c) all your support forces have arrived in Elko County.  Still you have sufficient forces for the job.  Over the past 16 hours since the fight in Oasis, Whyte Hat has deployed the forces to the locations on the map about ten posts back.  The Stealth Team has gone in, found 20 hostages and they remain close to the town.  This deploying took a lot of time as your two hovercraft drove around in the dark all around Montello (and out of range of any HATGM) making noise and delivering troops and equipment to their starting positions.  This took many hours, not only to move everything from Wells, but also to be in enough places to not allow the Montello Madmen to know where troops and equipment were being positioned.  Everyone is in position at 5am, which is when (according to this schedule) the Stealth Team will again move into Montello to set up to secure the hostages and be ready to call in artillery fire on various targets.  As a note for your intelligence, about one in four or five of the Montello Madmen that attacked Oasis had night fighting capability.  All of Whyte Hat's people also have nightfighting capability, but probably none of the hostages do, which would mean that the Stealth Team trying to move them would be very difficult until there is at least the beginning of light.

The reason for opening fire at the beginning of twilight (6:05 am) is that the Montello Madman will probably wait until there is a little light (or the promise of it) before sallying forth.  They did send out a gun truck earlier in the night and that was almost destroyed by the Team's A-20 Panzer.  The gangers didn't send anything else out after that, so hopefully they will respond with the pre-dawn light beginning.  Dawn itself won't be until 6:32 am.  The GMI Hover Transport is 3 minutes out from the 'Notch' and only a minute more (4 minutes total) from entering the town.  If the Madmen can be tempted to sally forth, they need to feel that the A-20 isn't a threat and positioning it to the NE to cover the escape route to the Utah border should do just that.  Once the Montello Madmen realize how much strength we have committed, the situation in town could change too quickly for the Team to save the hostages.  The hostages are MItzi's main concern.

If you want to change the plan of attack, let me know, because I will have to prepare and that takes a few days to program maps and everything into ASTRAL.

Now, @Snowyn had some questions about heat signatures in certain buildings and here is what you have learned.  This is known at 5am:

185 1st Street - This is a larger two story building and is actually one of the two suspected 'missile positions' guarding the NW corner of the town.  It is the position with a 31% chance of having a heavy weapon.  As a note, 250 2nd Street is also a two story building and is the second suspected possible NW missile position with a 17% chance of having a heavy weapons position. 

143 4th Street - This is (probably) a single story business.  This building has had a gang patrol walk through the building a couple of times, but there isn't any regular heat signatures staying there.  You should note that when the patrol enters the building their heat signatures would appear and disappear occasionally.

357 A Street - This is some kind of business (maybe), probably single story.  The patrols also check this building.  However, the occasional heat signature was seen in the area a couple of times.  Otherwise, it is dark.

426 A Street - Armed people have been seen coming and going from this building, but on no regular timetable.

429 A Street - No activity except for one patrol checking this building quickly during the night.

432 A Street - A vehicle went inside earlier in the evening and its heat signature is no longer visible.  The driver (and any passengers) were NOT seen leaving.

456 A Street - An operating business is here, but no heat signatures have been detected this night.

531 A Street - This is a private home with (maybe) a half a second floor; no heat signatures detected.

534 A Street - This appears to be a business.  They are not sure if its operating, but there are no heat signatures this night.

672 A Street - This is another business.  It is checked regularly by patrols and all heat signatures disappear when they enter this (possible) multi-story building. 

254 B Street - This is another business that is checked regularly by patrols.  Otherwise there is no heat signatures there.

359 B Street - This is a suspected barracks for the Montello Madmen.  Thermographic sensors have trouble seeing in the building here.

371 B Street - This is another business that is checked regularly by patrols.  Otherwise there is no heat signatures there.

380 B Street - This is a private home with business that is occasionally checked by patrols  Sometimes a heat signature has been seen among the buildings.

452 B Street - This is a ruined home.  No heat signatures have been detected there.

485 B Street - This home / business is another suspected Montello Madman 'barracks', heat signatures go in and out.  There are places inside that are screened from thermographic scans.

548 B Street - This is a business that is checked now and then by patrols, but has no heat signatures that have been detected. 

262 C Street - This business is another suspected Montello Madman 'barracks', heat signatures go in and out.  There are places inside that are screened from thermographic scans.

556 C Street - This business has a lot of Montello Madmen going in and out.  A gun truck has been seen around this building, but is not visible now.  It is possible that there are hostages here due to the larger number of heat signatures, but no hostages have been seen.  The Tactical Battlemapper thinks there aren't any hostages since it is at the edge of town, which would make escape easier.

341 Front Street (NV RT 233) - This is a solid brick building next door to one of the principle bars in Montello.  Thermographic sensors can't see in the building, but previous surveillance has identified both buildings 341 and the bar next door as occupied by the Montello Madmen at all times.

449 Front Street - Like building 341, this building is next to the second major bar in town and pretty much always has some of the Montello Madmen inside.

This information above is the last bit of intelligence (aerial or otherwise) that you have.  Any more scans will delay your attack until well after dawn.  This is what you have to work with.