Companero

According to the Eurosource + background for Soviet Russia, which I like, in around 2000, the remnants of the KGB, backed by hardline communists and a potion of the army attempted a coup against the Gorborev government, which led to a few weeks of bloody fighting across Russia, known as the nights of fire. What then happened is that the biggest industry, the state owned SovOil, declared that the SovArmy could not defend all of its assets, and the government agreed and let them sign on troops.

Of course what then happened was that SovOil signed on a large and well equipped army and declared independance from the state in order to create a giant corporation. The government reacted, but the republican troops were no real match for the motivated (and regulary paid!) SovOil troops. Gorborev conceded defeat, and this brought about his downfall. Later however, SovOil, in the interests of maintaining the new status quo prevented nationalist movements in some of the republics of the neo-sov, and are not generally opposed to the government.

I do have an idea for Kal and a city (haven't decided which one yet) of eastern poland, which might have some big implications, altough I probably won't have time to write it up until next week...

"I'd agree, but do we have any duct tape? If you can find a way to do that, great, if not we'd better have another plan."

Ethan starts rolling through the schematics to see if there is anywhere obvious where a leak could have occured. He also unstraps himself carefully, in case either he or Fawcett finds the leak and more than one pair of hands is needed to repair it.

Time is about 7:45 by the time the table is laid.

Outside, through the windows, is the just audible clatter of a neo-sov assault rifle, the scream of an AV, wailing sirens...The light jazz that Les put on earlier serves to drown it out though. There is a definate sense of isolation from the rest of the world inside this closed building, the combat zone less than half a kilometre away could be on the otherside of the continent for all the impact it has. The heating and the false windows only serve to exacerbate this.

The central heating system in here is an efficient scandanavian style system, creating a comfortably warm temperature. A little thermometre in the kitchen is showing -3 outside.

Just had a flick out of curiosity down the Singapore statutes...I love the way that an air pistol is treated exactly the same as a nine millemetre hand gun...

LES: The floor of the loft is much harder than expected, with a lot of insulation under the boards (this is Alaska after all). It is mostly empty except for a water still and a seperate boiler, an armoured fuse box, and two larges caches of kibble. You don't see any obvious way of getting in this way without blowing a hole in the roof first.

It does take you a second to realise this, but there are two cameras (at either end) up here that weren't listed on the security console. They have all been disconnected in a very permanent way, with painted lenses and the wiring fused in ways they were never intended to be.

In addition, there are several black marks on the frame of the roof. On closer inspection, these were the hidden surveilance systems, painted over, and in the case of a motion sensor and what appears to have been some kind of listening device, torn out of the walls.

Someone has gone through here and carefully destroyed all the surveillance and security gear. Judging by the dust and the flaky state of the paint, this wasn't in the very recent past, by your informed opinion, at the very least two months ago, well before you were informed that this job existed.

PATRIZIA: Barring any horrible mistakes on your part, the meal is coming along nicely, no unexpected problems with kitchen utensils or appliances etc.

Ethan takes the centre seat.

To tell the truth, he really isn't enjoying this situation, and his facade of calm is not as tight as that off Fawcett. He is certainly breathing heavier than normal.

Hey, half the population of Wales voted yes for devolution of government...

(I tend to set my version around 2030, with 'the collapse' happening in the 2010s)

I just picked up a copy of When Gravity Fails, and while I love the content, the background, the tech etc etc, I can't help wonder if 2203 is too far in the future for a lot of the tech. I mean cyberware is coming about now, same with bioware etc, if sentient AIs can exist (i'm not sure a truly sentient AI is possible, myself, but then I don't know enough about how these things work), and as Malek said 'the future is now'.

I keep meaning to pick up a Singapore travel book with an eye to running a campaign there, because I think that a high level corporate game could be quite fun. Imagine a corporate assassination in Biopolis, something along those lines. The entire city is so massivly varied that it would provide a really varied set of npcs and locations - some kind of info-broker campaign, a fixer running a data empire from a restaurant in the Arab quarter, collating background information, locating contacts, bribing shipping contractors, providing the finances to ship guns to fillipino rebels...

On another note, this one aimed at Mike...

Ethnic or political faultlines?

This isn't so much for your version of Poland 2020, but for my own European canon. I tend to split up a lot of countries (given whats going on in Saxony right now, it isn't that difficult an assumption to make), as individual regions and territories decide that the central government in Berlin/Rome/London or whereever won't handle their needs. Some countries like Spain and Belgium can be Balkanised along ethnic lines, others like Germany on economic grounds.

Is there anything like this in Poland? Of all the countries in Europe, Poland is one of the ones that seems least like to break up (given how long it fought to exist in the first place), but are there any regions with major economic or ethnic at odds with the rest of the nation?

I tend to stay around 2020, altough sometimes i shove it forward 10 years.

To be honest, the gang of four idea works just as well now as it did then...

Time is no later than 6:30, probably before depending on how long you have taken to get settled in.

FIREARMS CHECK: The worst problem with the provided firepower is a very light coating of dust on the outer casings. However, the closer inspection reveals that neither weapons is standard, to a greater or lesser degree.

Both weapons have printless finishes, and the shotgun has had most of its internal mechanism replaced with what appear to be higher quality materials than the rest of the weapon.

SECURITY CHECK: A series of hardwired hidden cameras provides all around coverage at street level, in the underground parking garage and on the shop floor.

These cameras are completely hidden, it would take more than a casual check to locate them (optic cables laced through the walls). In addition there are also cameras in the loft above (which can be access by a hatch above the common room, and is disguised as part of the ceiling - can only be opened with a switch. In addition there is a system of motion sensors and cameras along the stairwell, and an alarm system linked to the petrochem local network.

The stairwell can be flooded with tear gas, the doors in and out of the stairwell are bullet proof, and the door frames, keyholes and knobs can be electrifyed. There is a prominent note telling you to turn the system off when you leave for the last time. In addition various settings can be changed - electrocute anyone who tries the knob without a key, don't do that etc.

There is also a sprinkler system across the building. If you really don't want someone coming up those stairs it is possible to fire the sprinklers as soon as someone without clearance tries the knob, then electrocute them...someone rather sadistic put a lot of effort into this.

Finally the doors into the stairwell can only be opened with a key. As before mentioned, it is up to you how fearsome a response to someone not putting the key in the lock before touching the knob is.

<EDIT: There are also motion sensors tied into an alarm grid on the shop floor, garage and stairwell. They are silent, indicated by a bright light flashing on the security console. >

"Yeah, we should take all of them - if you are taking another one of the shotguns I won't, you can have the rest of the ammunition".

"We should discuss planning on the flight, yes?"

Once everyone is inside...

The journey into Clarke isn't bad, altough you are aware that this address is in one of the rougher parts of town.

The address points to an abandoned concrete import/export shop with an underground parking gallery. Inside is an empty shop floor with a few shelves and an empty counter, and beyond is another locked door, whic hcan be opened with the key.

This in turn leads to some stairs going up to the next floor, yet another locked (metal) door and the safehouse itself.

The safehouse has the following: A small landing for the staircase, with a table, telephone and 4 sets of keys to the building to go with what you already have.

A large room with a coffee table, 2 sofas, an armchair and an empty wardrobe. There is also a small computer system linked up to cameras in the storefront and motion sensors scattered around the building. It isn't turned on as of now. There is a music player and a net connection linked to the coffee table with a flick up screen(altough not a powerful one).

A dining room/kitchen with an oven, sink, and a fridge along with various shelves and cutlery and several kibble bars. There is also a dining table with five chairs. On the dining table someone has left a chipped LA15 Assault Rifle with 5 magazines, 5 pairs of smartgoggles with infrared, antidazzle and thermoptics, a chipped Sternmeyer Stakeout 10 shotgun with a box of fifty rounds, 5 C-6 flatfire plastic explosives and a bottle full of flowers. The room has mood lighting, which is rather odd.

There are two bed rooms, each with four bunks, two up, two down. Each bunk has a light and there are bedside tables and a wardrobe.

A bathroom with a shower, not to mention a toilet etc etc.

All the rooms apart from the bedroom have boarded windows, with photovoltaic bullet proof glass screens behind the panels, currently showing an rather inappropriate jungle view. Each window has a choice between 'Off', 'Jungle', 'Desert', 'Rocky Mountains' and 'Silent Advertising'.

The parking garage has three spaces for van sized vehicles, but they are currently empty (the vehicles are at another address).

...of course, just like art, what is and what isn't art is in the eye of the beholder.

Ethan takes his share of the basics, another round third of the grenades.

"Mr Willis, are you planning on using one of the shotguns?"

"As for the explosives, some may come in useful, altough how many we will need is another matter. They could come in handy for the initial assault, perhaps."

Mielno:

This is a small resort town sandwiched between the sea and Jamno Lake, which merged with nearby Uniesce around the millenium. It is known for its sandy beaches.

In 2016 a company called JTech - a Polish subsiduary of EBM - built a series of CLCs around the town and bought the beaches, turning much of the town into a corporate resort for the goldenkids of Europe, with a particulary large concentration of EBM employees located here during the summer (its a staff perk) who come down from Hamburg.

The town has suffered less from the recent crises than other resort towns on the coast, despite the large German presence. This is mainly because a. the entire town is effectivly JTech property and b. as the town mayor will often point out, EBM is based in Hamburg, and EBM Hamburg is now a free city, not part of Germany. In addition there are a large number of French (and as of 2021) British executives who take vacations in the town.

The town is now a modern resort catering for the Euroriche. Several piers have been built into the sea, and a selectivly permeable membrane keeps pollution (and fish) away from what are now some of the cleanest beaches in the Baltic. However, as a corporate town, you will not find much in the way of 'danger' in the town, it is tightly policed and guarded. It also has a series of corporate research hospitals.

However, the executives who take holidays here are still less protected than in their home offices...There have been a number of attempted extractions from within the town. In addition, it is also one of the primary places that EBM operatives bring targets after extraction has been completed, to make use of the hospital biosculpting facilities. Thus the possibility of counter extraction operations within the town are possible.

Of course the Polish authorities know nothing about any of this...

In addition, there is a small proportion of the Polish population that resents the corporate takeover of the town.

The corp and bodyguard return to the vehicle after exchanging the usual plesentaries. It then reverses all the way out of the hanger/warehouse.

CONTENTS OF THE CASE:

20,000 eb in unmarked 20 eb bills.

Keys to a van and a car, with a warehouse address to pick them up from.

Keys and address to a safehouse in the Clarke district.

A sheet of information gathered by Petrochem - very little, a reiteration of what he told you in the briefing. Not much to go on, but Smith did give you the names of a couple of informants. The sheet also intimates that Petrochem are suspicious both of SovOil and the neo-celtic colony at Beatville (the latter being a possible hiding place for the terrorists). Finally, there are a few theories about how the increased firepower in the region is entering the country - seeing as Russian firepower is restricted both by the firearms restrictions in this state but also by US import laws, smuggling has to be a major factor in this. The weaponary seems to be coming in relativly small quantities at a time, but often.

Whoever was up on the roof before the briefing seems to be gone now, by all indications.

The rain has come to a stop.

"I will be using Infrared, Low Lite, and Image Enhancement, personally, since my internal optics are geared towards targetting and already possess a thermograph and antidazzle. Of course, I you prefer, if you wish for a common visual frequency I am open to other options."

"REO meatwagon operates a service in the city", says the bodyguard " if you wish for any trauma services."

"Anything else?"

"A picture delievered by your cellphone should should suffice. However, don't think you can jack a gang member off the street and present a picture of his corpse as evidence - we have effective methods of determining if this is the case".

Oh, Mike, the cargo sub thing reminded me -

AIs - legal status, attitudes etc, within Poland.

I'm hoping it won't be 'total ban, enforceable by death of the responsible programmers'...

Thanks.