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Message no. 1
From: mneideng@****.caltech.edu (Mark L. Neidengard)
Subject: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 14:29:58 -0800 (PST)
According to Evan Hughes:
> *****PRIVATE TO: V-12
> Contact me a >>encrypted<< for more information.]<<<<<

Assume he did so. =) Tell me what is being requested, and I'll tell Mr.
Corrupted what sort of resources V-12 and the crew can bring in. Such
resources include some non-trivial aircraft...
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, CS Major, VLSI. http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~mneideng
"Fairy of sleep, controller of illusions" Operator/Jack-of-all-Trades, CACR
"Control the person for my own purpose." "Don't mess with the Dark
Elves!"
-Pirotess, _Record_of_Lodoss_War_ Shadowrunner and Anime Addict
Message no. 2
From: Evan Hughes <ehughes@****.carleton.ca>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 96 0:56:33 EST
Mark L. Neidengard writes:
> Assume he did so. =) Tell me what is being requested, and I'll tell Mr.
> Corrupted what sort of resources V-12 and the crew can bring in. Such
> resources include some non-trivial aircraft...


He wants a trashing of the Maxim Security Plaza. A good trashing. I'll
have to check with Angliss for some good local facilities...


Evan Hughes
Honours Computer Science
http://chat.carleton.ca/~ehughes
Message no. 3
From: ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 23:10:39 -0700 (MST)
Define "Local". If you mean Seattle, then there's two facilities.
MSI/MAS in Bellevue(which was damaged earlier this year) and a MAT engine
production facility in Everett.

Outside of Seattle, well, give me an idea of whereabouts you were looking
and I'll tell you if there's anything there, and what it is too.

Keep in mind before any trashing gets written that Maxim, if pushed too
hard, will attempt to put the fear of Maxim into people. I'm willing to
reduce Maxim's presence and power and prominance a bit, but I'm still not
going to destroy it.

Brian
Message no. 4
From: mneideng@****.caltech.edu (Mark L. Neidengard)
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 00:04:57 -0800 (PST)
According to Evan Hughes:
>
> He wants a trashing of the Maxim Security Plaza. A good trashing. I'll
> have to check with Angliss for some good local facilities...

Oh, I think that can be arranged..._definitely_ arranged. =) It'll take a
substantial capital outlay (for the suicide drones and the equipment that will
get damaged in the process; V-12 can no more expect a perfect op than Maxim
can) but the results would be worth it. Of course, once the physical layout
is known, V-12 will also want to hire on some _serious_ magical support, but
we're not there yet. =)
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, CS Major, VLSI. http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~mneideng
"Fairy of sleep, controller of illusions" Operator/Jack-of-all-Trades, CACR
"Control the person for my own purpose." "Don't mess with the Dark
Elves!"
-Pirotess, _Record_of_Lodoss_War_ Shadowrunner and Anime Addict
Message no. 5
From: mneideng@****.caltech.edu (Mark L. Neidengard)
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 00:07:27 -0800 (PST)
According to ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD:
>
> Outside of Seattle, well, give me an idea of whereabouts you were looking
> and I'll tell you if there's anything there, and what it is too.

I think this was in the vein of trying to mop up those remaining nukes. What
specifically were you planning for their storage arrangements?
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, CS Major, VLSI. http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~mneideng
"Fairy of sleep, controller of illusions" Operator/Jack-of-all-Trades, CACR
"Control the person for my own purpose." "Don't mess with the Dark
Elves!"
-Pirotess, _Record_of_Lodoss_War_ Shadowrunner and Anime Addict
Message no. 6
From: Evan Hughes <ehughes@****.carleton.ca>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 96 9:40:33 EST
Mark L. Neidengard writes:
> I think this was in the vein of trying to mop up those remaining nukes. What
> specifically were you planning for their storage arrangements?

*grin* Uh, not really. SI isn't quite that philanthropic. It's more to
damage Maxim's rep and production facilities. After all, the CC has all
but given SI complete sanction to open up on Maxim...



Evan Hughes
Honours Computer Science
http://chat.carleton.ca/~ehughes
Message no. 7
From: mneideng@****.caltech.edu (Mark L. Neidengard)
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 13:18:54 -0800 (PST)
According to Evan Hughes:
>
> Mark L. Neidengard writes:
> > I think this was in the vein of trying to mop up those remaining nukes. What
> > specifically were you planning for their storage arrangements?
>
> *grin* Uh, not really. SI isn't quite that philanthropic. It's more to
> damage Maxim's rep and production facilities. After all, the CC has all
> but given SI complete sanction to open up on Maxim...


Right. Brian and co., I think we all need to coordinate our calendars. What
is the developing situation on the destruction of Maxim's nukes? Presumably
S-I knows about the central facility; will they know about the other sites?
If I recall correctly, some sort of corporate-sponsored shadow hit was
supposed to happen to the central depot; I think V-12 and co. would be
perfect for that little affair. =)
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, CS Major, VLSI. http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~mneideng
"Fairy of sleep, controller of illusions" Operator/Jack-of-all-Trades, CACR
"Control the person for my own purpose." "Don't mess with the Dark
Elves!"
-Pirotess, _Record_of_Lodoss_War_ Shadowrunner and Anime Addict
Message no. 8
From: ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 11:46:42 -0700 (MST)
On Thu, 1 Feb 1996, Mark L. Neidengard wrote:
> Right. Brian and co., I think we all need to coordinate our calendars. What
> is the developing situation on the destruction of Maxim's nukes? Presumably
> S-I knows about the central facility; will they know about the other sites?
> If I recall correctly, some sort of corporate-sponsored shadow hit was
> supposed to happen to the central depot; I think V-12 and co. would be
> perfect for that little affair. =)

At this point, I figure all relevant parties(not necessarily the runners,
though, since they're only partly relevant at this time) know where the
nukes are being stored.

LaPaz is in the Andes and is a triple facility similar to Warsaw, but
with a lot more storage than production. It's stable, hard to approach,
and moderately well guarded and it has only one nuke.

Cairo is small, pretty much unguarded, less stable, and all but unknown.
Since few people know, or care, what happens there, it'll be a relatively
simple raid(I suspect).

Phenom Penh, on the other hand, is in the middle of Cambodia. FOF says
that most of SE Asia has become a nearly constant battleground between
powerful local warlords. I figure that Phenom Penh is kind of like
Serjievo(I know I spelled it VERY wrong). Maxim put the nukes there
because they have a very well protected facility that provides mercenary
support(and therefore military training for thier troops) as well as
armament to the locals. The facility has it's own airport, a hundred or
so military troops in addition to the standard security, tanks, the whole
shabang. It's more like a military base(with free-fire killzones,
landmines, fighters, choppers, artillery, mortars, everything) than a
corporate facility, which is precisely why Maxim put the nukes there.
It's well protected, huge(figure a couple of dozen square miles), and in the
middle of the jungle outside of P.P. There's no local government to get
pissed off about nuke being stored on their turf, and Maxim has enough
forces to destroy just about anything that comes at the base(plus they
own the immediately local warlords who do much of thier extended area
security for them and without costing Maxim employees in the process).
The facility itself is too large to be totally destroyed, but the nuke
section is small enough that it shouldn't be too hard to get to them.

The nukes themselves are being put into underground concrete bunkers that
will be completed within two weeks. The bunkers will be sealed and
require Velli's authorization, cosigned by Skulkin's, to get into. Now,
since Evan is going to sink a ship loaded with prestressed, prefabbed
concrete bunker parts, it'll take about 3 weeks instead. The time for
permanent plutonium and tritium storage is about a month barring
accidents. That's the timeline.

The nukes are very well protected and will be extremely difficult and
dangerous to destroy.

Brian
Message no. 9
From: JOHN SPAIN <93135653@****.dcu.ie>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 1996 19:12:20 +0000 (GMT)
100 combat troops sounds a bit small for such a big facility. Note that
I am one of the people who have been clamouring for moderation in the way
corporations are played - But there is no point in changing tack in the
middle of the plot. I would say a facility of the size described would have
at least twice that...

Then again, I dunno nuthin...

-J.S.
Message no. 10
From: ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 13:48:54 -0700 (MST)
On Fri, 2 Feb 1996, JOHN SPAIN wrote:

> 100 combat troops sounds a bit small for such a big facility. Note that
> I am one of the people who have been clamouring for moderation in the way
> corporations are played - But there is no point in changing tack in the
> middle of the plot. I would say a facility of the size described would have
> at least twice that...

I meant the military forces, excluding standard security. Maxim only has
about 1000 troops worldwide(excluding tanks and aircraft as well as
support), and most of them are in the regional HQs. Phenom Penh isn't
the regional HQ, but a lot of warlords would mean a lot of income for
Maxim, thus the size of the facility.

I figure that the total number of employees(all of whom live and work
on-site) would be somewhere in the range of 5000-7000, excluding security.
Security would be another 4-500, with an additional 100 true military
troops, tanks, etc.

I'm working on the precise details currently, and I'm looking at several
dozen RPVs, combat rotodrones, and ground combat drones, 6 or 7
choppers(2 on patrol at all times), machinegun nests with AVM launchers
too, electrified hurricane fence, buried non-electrified hurricane
fence, razorwire and monowire, landmines, milspec armored and armed
patrols with paranormals and cybermutts, the whole nine yards.
Expensive, but not as expensive as letting the place be overrun and
having to retake it again.

Hard core defensive. Basically, Maxim's made the place as difficult to
attack as I can think of. Now, I'm sure that Paul the resident Military
engineer has some more interesting stuff than I do, but using what I know
about what's available, it'll be almost as harsh as I can make it.

Brian
Message no. 11
From: justinf@****.caltech.edu (Justin Fang)
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 02:15:33 -0800 (PST)
> I meant the military forces, excluding standard security. Maxim only has
> about 1000 troops worldwide(excluding tanks and aircraft as well as
> support), and most of them are in the regional HQs. Phenom Penh isn't
> the regional HQ, but a lot of warlords would mean a lot of income for
> Maxim, thus the size of the facility.
>
> I figure that the total number of employees(all of whom live and work
> on-site) would be somewhere in the range of 5000-7000, excluding security.
> Security would be another 4-500, with an additional 100 true military
> troops, tanks, etc.
>
> I'm working on the precise details currently, and I'm looking at several
> dozen RPVs, combat rotodrones, and ground combat drones, 6 or 7
> choppers(2 on patrol at all times), machinegun nests with AVM launchers
> too, electrified hurricane fence, buried non-electrified hurricane
> fence, razorwire and monowire, landmines, milspec armored and armed
> patrols with paranormals and cybermutts, the whole nine yards.
> Expensive, but not as expensive as letting the place be overrun and
> having to retake it again.
>
> Hard core defensive. Basically, Maxim's made the place as difficult to
> attack as I can think of. Now, I'm sure that Paul the resident Military
> engineer has some more interesting stuff than I do, but using what I know
> about what's available, it'll be almost as harsh as I can make it.
>
> Brian

Do you have any particular ideas about how someone could get at the
nukes through all this security? We (the local gaming group; Mark and
Rob you may already know) had some discussion about this, and unless
there's some security hole that can be exploited to sneak in a
saboteur, it looks like the only alternatives are military-level
assault or massive magical force.

The former probably involves some government deciding it's had enough
followed by a whole bunch of cruise missiles launched at the
nuke-storage portion of the complex from a sub that vanishes before it
can be identified or traced. The latter implies someone getting hold of
a force 8 or greater free spirit (probably a fire elemental, maybe with
sorcery) that bashes through magical security, finds the nukes, and
makes them go up in flames.

Any way you look at it, attacking a heavily fortified military base of
this magnitude just isn't the sort of thing you hire shadowrunners for.

Justin Fang (justinf@****.caltech.edu)
This space intentionally left blank.
Message no. 12
From: shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk (Paul J. Adam)
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sat, 03 Feb 1996 11:16:51 GMT
> Do you have any particular ideas about how someone could get at the
> nukes through all this security? We (the local gaming group; Mark and
> Rob you may already know) had some discussion about this, and unless
> there's some security hole that can be exploited to sneak in a
> saboteur, it looks like the only alternatives are military-level
> assault or massive magical force.

You said it yourself: find a chink and sneak through it. There are
various ideas which leap to mind, especially if A Friendly Corporation
rattled some sabres. Beefing up the defences against military
attack might open some gaps, which could be exploited.

> Any way you look at it, attacking a heavily fortified military base of
> this magnitude just isn't the sort of thing you hire shadowrunners for.

Au contraire, it's exactly what you hire runners for. Cheap, deniable,
expendable, and doesn't close off any military options. I can think of a few
ways to try it offhand, but the devil is in the details.

--
Paul J. Adam
Message no. 13
From: mneideng@****.caltech.edu (Mark L. Neidengard)
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 11:23:15 -0800 (PST)
According to ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD:
>
> Phenom Penh, on the other hand, is in the middle of Cambodia. FOF says
> that most of SE Asia has become a nearly constant battleground between
> powerful local warlords. I figure that Phenom Penh is kind of like
> Serjievo(I know I spelled it VERY wrong). Maxim put the nukes there
> because they have a very well protected facility that provides mercenary
> support(and therefore military training for thier troops) as well as
> armament to the locals. The facility has it's own airport, a hundred or
> so military troops in addition to the standard security, tanks, the whole
> shabang. It's more like a military base(with free-fire killzones,
> landmines, fighters, choppers, artillery, mortars, everything) than a
> corporate facility, which is precisely why Maxim put the nukes there.

So, it's a military minefield around the perimeter, for starters, with
layered Automated Defenses overlooking it. All things being equal, I think
sneaking _in_ could be difficult.

> It's well protected, huge(figure a couple of dozen square miles), and in the
> middle of the jungle outside of P.P. There's no local government to get
> pissed off about nuke being stored on their turf, and Maxim has enough
> forces to destroy just about anything that comes at the base(plus they
> own the immediately local warlords who do much of thier extended area
> security for them and without costing Maxim employees in the process).

So to get to the hostile territory, one has to cross only slightly less hostile
territory, if going by land. Through the jungle.

> The facility itself is too large to be totally destroyed, but the nuke
> section is small enough that it shouldn't be too hard to get to them.

Well, lesse...

> The nukes are very well protected and will be extremely difficult and
> dangerous to destroy.

I'm not sure we can have it both ways. The way you've portrayed the base, the
following things seem apparent to me. Infiltrating the perimeter on foot is
going to be hell, from the approach all the way to reaching the nuclear
materials themselves. It is sounding like a paramilitary insertion with
heavy magical backing to even get to the edge of the base, and from there
having to either foil or distract the sensors. And then the real fun begins as
the runners have to munch through military grade security forces to get to the
nukes. Who certainly have magical support of their own. To be honest, it
sounds like a terrestrial attack is _just_ about out. Certainly, I don't
expect to be able to disrupt their security badly enough from the Matrix to
make that a factor. Which leaves the sky. _If_ it were to be an airstrike
before the bunkers are complete, it would require precise knowledge of where
the nukes are ahead of time. The base's anti-air defenses as described
elsewhere are very formidable, but apparently easier to breach with a
lightning strike...nevertheless, I'm still worried about the attractiveness
of the whole ball of wax for runners. If nothing else, Maxim probably has
one of their reconnaisance sattelites watching the area, giving them a
better chance of spotting encroaching aircraft.

More comments?
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, CS Major, VLSI. http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~mneideng
"Fairy of sleep, controller of illusions" Operator/Jack-of-all-Trades, CACR
"Control the person for my own purpose." "Don't mess with the Dark
Elves!"
-Pirotess, _Record_of_Lodoss_War_ Shadowrunner and Anime Addict
Message no. 14
From: JOHN SPAIN <93135653@****.dcu.ie>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sat, 03 Feb 1996 19:30:43 +0000 (GMT)
Massed elemental strike. Cheaper than ICBM's. Neater too. Enough runner
mages used, and it'll only cost money. Presumably, the money is available.

-J.S. (V.2.0.)
Message no. 15
From: justinf@****.caltech.edu (Justin Fang)
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 18:57:19 -0800 (PST)
> > Do you have any particular ideas about how someone could get at the
> > nukes through all this security? We (the local gaming group; Mark and
> > Rob you may already know) had some discussion about this, and unless
> > there's some security hole that can be exploited to sneak in a
> > saboteur, it looks like the only alternatives are military-level
> > assault or massive magical force.

> You said it yourself: find a chink and sneak through it. There are
> various ideas which leap to mind, especially if A Friendly Corporation
> rattled some sabres. Beefing up the defences against military
> attack might open some gaps, which could be exploited.

Well, with several thousand people there, impersonating someone to get
onto the base shouldn't be too hard. Finding the nukes in an area of
dozens of square miles, rendering them unusable, and, most
importantly, getting out again seems to be... difficult. Note that to
really deprive Maxim of nuke capability, it's insufficient to simply
destroy the detonators and other bomb parts, since Maxim presumably
now has the capability to manufacture those. You have to make the
plutonium itself unusable, either by stealing it (fat chance!) or
spreading it out over a large enough area that it can't be
recovered. This probably means burning/blasting the stuff, in the
process creating a truly massive environmental disaster.

> > Any way you look at it, attacking a heavily fortified military base of
> > this magnitude just isn't the sort of thing you hire shadowrunners for.

> Au contraire, it's exactly what you hire runners for. Cheap, deniable,
> expendable, and doesn't close off any military options. I can think of a few
> ways to try it offhand, but the devil is in the details.

It's exactly what you might want to hire shadowrunners for, but what
sane shadowrunner is going to want to take on an assignment like this?
And hiring insane shadowrunners has its own disadvantages.

> --
> Paul J. Adam

Justin Fang (justinf@****.caltech.edu)
This space intentionally left blank.
Message no. 16
From: shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk (Paul J. Adam)
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 1996 09:40:34 GMT
In message <199602040257.SAA20224@*****.ugcs.caltech.edu>
justinf@****.caltech.edu (Justin Fang) writes:
> onto the base shouldn't be too hard. Finding the nukes in an area of
> dozens of square miles, rendering them unusable, and, most
> importantly, getting out again seems to be... difficult. Note that to
> really deprive Maxim of nuke capability, it's insufficient to simply
> destroy the detonators and other bomb parts, since Maxim presumably
> now has the capability to manufacture those. You have to make the
> plutonium itself unusable, either by stealing it (fat chance!) or
> spreading it out over a large enough area that it can't be
> recovered. This probably means burning/blasting the stuff, in the
> process creating a truly massive environmental disaster.

Plutonium in bunker, with timed charges attached. (Not necessarily
a nuclear bunker, anything solid will do). Drop the bunker in a
mass of rubble, then the timed charges go off, shattering and dispersing
the Pu within the rubble. Result, a buried pit of contamination. Not
impossible to get at and retrieve the plutonium, but sufficiently
difficult, time-consuming, expensive, dangerous and obvious that it might
be better to start over from scratch. Not exactly nice environmentally,
but better than scattering the stuff in the open.

>> Au contraire, it's exactly what you hire runners for. Cheap, deniable,
>> expendable, and doesn't close off any military options. I can think of a few
>> ways to try it offhand, but the devil is in the details.
>
> It's exactly what you might want to hire shadowrunners for, but what
> sane shadowrunner is going to want to take on an assignment like this?
> And hiring insane shadowrunners has its own disadvantages.

Well, there's the money :) And the challenge. The downside, of course,
is the risk of the mission itself, and the not inconsiderable problem
of being on Maxim's shitlist thereafter. Part of it depends on what help
is available: this isn't the sort of assignment you take on without some
serious backing.

--
Paul J. Adam
Message no. 17
From: ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 17:05:18 -0700 (MST)
On Sat, 3 Feb 1996, Justin Fang wrote:
> Do you have any particular ideas about how someone could get at the
> nukes through all this security? We (the local gaming group; Mark and
> Rob you may already know) had some discussion about this, and unless
> there's some security hole that can be exploited to sneak in a
> saboteur, it looks like the only alternatives are military-level
> assault or massive magical force.

Actually, there will be holes. I'll post a hell of a lot of detail when
I have the layout and the rest of the stuff done.

> The former probably involves some government deciding it's had enough
> followed by a whole bunch of cruise missiles launched at the
> nuke-storage portion of the complex from a sub that vanishes before it
> can be identified or traced. The latter implies someone getting hold of
> a force 8 or greater free spirit (probably a fire elemental, maybe with
> sorcery) that bashes through magical security, finds the nukes, and
> makes them go up in flames.

The former would be bad since the Court vs. Government complications.
The latter, on the other hand....

Brian
Message no. 18
From: ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 17:15:40 -0700 (MST)
On Sat, 3 Feb 1996, Mark L. Neidengard wrote:

> So, it's a military minefield around the perimeter, for starters, with
> layered Automated Defenses overlooking it. All things being equal, I think
> sneaking _in_ could be difficult.

Yep, sneaking in ain't gonna be easy. However, it is just outside the
city, so you can sneak close to it from inside the city.

> So to get to the hostile territory, one has to cross only slightly less hostile
> territory, if going by land. Through the jungle.

Yep. That's why Maxim put the nukes there, even with the instability of
the region.

> I'm not sure we can have it both ways. The way you've portrayed the base, the
> following things seem apparent to me. Infiltrating the perimeter on foot is
> going to be hell, from the approach all the way to reaching the nuclear
> materials themselves. It is sounding like a paramilitary insertion with
> heavy magical backing to even get to the edge of the base, and from there
> having to either foil or distract the sensors. And then the real fun begins as
> the runners have to munch through military grade security forces to get to the
> nukes. Who certainly have magical support of their own. To be honest, it
> sounds like a terrestrial attack is _just_ about out. Certainly, I don't
> expect to be able to disrupt their security badly enough from the Matrix to
> make that a factor. Which leaves the sky. _If_ it were to be an airstrike
> before the bunkers are complete, it would require precise knowledge of where
> the nukes are ahead of time. The base's anti-air defenses as described
> elsewhere are very formidable, but apparently easier to breach with a
> lightning strike...nevertheless, I'm still worried about the attractiveness
> of the whole ball of wax for runners. If nothing else, Maxim probably has
> one of their reconnaisance sattelites watching the area, giving them a
> better chance of spotting encroaching aircraft.

Yep, coming in by air is better. I'm thinking that the best way to get
in is perhaps via one of Maxim's ground transports(stow away with the
incoming bunker parts or, if you feel particularly nuts, the plutonium
shipment) or via an air transport(sub-orbital). I'm still working on the
details, though.

Frontal assult is just right out, your right about that.

It'll probably be easier to do what a lot of terrorists try to do today
when they want to blow up a plane(bastards....). They sneak the bomb
abord a plane at an airport where security is pretty bad, or they have
security corrupted somehow, and then have it transfer to the plane
they're targeting. Boom. So the raiders will likely not try to
penetrate the facility directly because it has some really hard core
security, as you've all seen. They'll target a place they know they can
get into, somehow get aboard a transport to the nuke place, do the
damage, and then get out again somehow. Getting out again in this case
is what would be hard.

Brian
Message no. 19
From: ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 17:18:53 -0700 (MST)
On Sat, 3 Feb 1996, JOHN SPAIN wrote:

> Massed elemental strike. Cheaper than ICBM's. Neater too. Enough runner
> mages used, and it'll only cost money. Presumably, the money is available.
>
> -J.S. (V.2.0.)
>

Actually, that'd probably work, but the military section has a lot of
support in this area. Maxim's security works like this: Their physical
security will be as impregnable as they can make it, because that's what
Maxim's best at. Matrix security will be second, since thier days when
Solitaire was still alive have carried over in security. She was very
good, and generated some matrix systems that were damn near impregnable.
They've slipped some since she died, but they're still hard. Magic is
Maxim's current Achilles' heel.

Brian
Message no. 20
From: ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 17:31:41 -0700 (MST)
On Sat, 3 Feb 1996, Justin Fang wrote:

> > You said it yourself: find a chink and sneak through it. There are
> > various ideas which leap to mind, especially if A Friendly Corporation
> > rattled some sabres. Beefing up the defences against military
> > attack might open some gaps, which could be exploited.

Yep, and maybe S-I or Ryaka, both of which are in the area(I think...)
and, I suspect, have an interest in Maxim not having nukes for too long,
rattling sabres wouldn't be too hard to manage. Evan, Tom? Yes, no, maybe?

> Well, with several thousand people there, impersonating someone to get
> onto the base shouldn't be too hard. Finding the nukes in an area of
> dozens of square miles, rendering them unusable, and, most
> importantly, getting out again seems to be... difficult. Note that to
> really deprive Maxim of nuke capability, it's insufficient to simply
> destroy the detonators and other bomb parts, since Maxim presumably
> now has the capability to manufacture those. You have to make the
> plutonium itself unusable, either by stealing it (fat chance!) or
> spreading it out over a large enough area that it can't be
> recovered. This probably means burning/blasting the stuff, in the
> process creating a truly massive environmental disaster.

Detonators and bomb parts are pretty easy for Maxim. Stealing it would
be really difficult, burning it would wipe out a good sized section of
the jungle, depending on prevailing winds(of course, multiple greater Air
elementals or free spirits could help, depending on the effects of
radiation on spirits), but burying is probably the best. The nukes are
underground already, but the heavy duty bunkers haven't been built yet.

> It's exactly what you might want to hire shadowrunners for, but what
> sane shadowrunner is going to want to take on an assignment like this?
> And hiring insane shadowrunners has its own disadvantages.

Well, naturally. :) But considering that there are, I'm sure, some
people who will do this raid for free(some of the HQ raiders from last
year, probably, since they're already on Maxim's blacklist, Sherlock
Holmes and her friends probably, since they have a major grudge against
Velli) and the rest will likely have behind-the-scenes support from
either Saeder-Krupp(just the two extra facilities) or other, smaller
corps(SI for the main plant, probably, maybe others too), the money will
be there to pay VERY well. Sure, that won't necessarily get the best,
but there will be runners who take it just for cash.
Message no. 21
From: ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 17:42:13 -0700 (MST)
On Sun, 4 Feb 1996, Paul J. Adam wrote:

> Plutonium in bunker, with timed charges attached. (Not necessarily
> a nuclear bunker, anything solid will do). Drop the bunker in a
> mass of rubble, then the timed charges go off, shattering and dispersing
> the Pu within the rubble. Result, a buried pit of contamination. Not
> impossible to get at and retrieve the plutonium, but sufficiently
> difficult, time-consuming, expensive, dangerous and obvious that it might
> be better to start over from scratch. Not exactly nice environmentally,
> but better than scattering the stuff in the open.

Yep, and this is probably the best option. The nuke bunkers, when built,
will be buried and bombproof/cruise missile proof as well as sealed,
etc. But the nukes are currently in underground storage now. Not
anywhere near as secure as they would be once the heavy bunkers are
built, but that's why they need to be hit before they're built.

If we don't have things going and some form of semi-consensus, I can
easily extend the timetable. Shriking it is hard, but extending it is easy.

The other thing is that the site is supposed to hold the raw plutonium
and tritium too, once storage vessels have been constructed. Maxim stole
enough plutonium to make several dozen nukes, 9 of which were
constructed. While the raw plutonium is refined enough to make nukes out
of it, it's not been formed into triggers yet, and the Court will be
sending reps to make sure that it stays unformed. The tritium has been
purified to weapons grade, but it also requires Court verification on a
weekly or monthly basis. Most of both raw materials won't be there yet,
but the nukes are. This is a raid to hit the nukes, not the raw
material. I thought I'd made that apparent, but maybe not. Sorry. If
you splat the nukes in a bunker after making sure they won't go off in
the process, it won't even be worth Maxim's effort to try and recover
it, not with double the lost material still "available".

> Well, there's the money :) And the challenge. The downside, of course,
> is the risk of the mission itself, and the not inconsiderable problem
> of being on Maxim's shitlist thereafter. Part of it depends on what help
> is available: this isn't the sort of assignment you take on without some
> serious backing.

And, hopefully, there will be some serious backing.

Brian
Message no. 22
From: Craigtw1@***.com
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 20:04:59 -0500
I don't think Ryaka would support this although they would be worried about
Maxim having nuclear capabilities; BUT Vathor Technologies WOULD be more than
interested, as Maxim is in their "backyard". Yes, Rathor would have a
conflict of interest(If he owns some stock in Maxim, as Vladimir
Misaslovski{preferred alias}); but he could use this as a means to try to get
Velli out of control of Maxim. Hell, Vathor Technologies was created as
Rathor's and Vader's means of controlling the world. They would view this
attack as a means to gaining control over a threat to that goal; hence
eliminating that threat.
Tom
Message no. 23
From: JOHN SPAIN <93135653@****.dcu.ie>
Subject: Re: You show some interest (fwd)
Date: Mon, 05 Feb 1996 12:58:24 +0000 (GMT)
The 'massed elemental strike' is probably the best way to go about it. Simply
hire a shitload of mages to summon elementals and send them on remote missions,
overload Maxim's astral defence, and destroy the material. The elementals
take the plutonium to a volcano, or drop it in an oceanic pit. OR take it
back to the 'interested parties'. A couple of astral mages can direct
operations with a fair modicum of safety.

The problem with this, as far as I see it, is that it doesn't give a lot of
scope for the kind of 'action report' write up that the list thrives on.

Speaking plainly, it's too safe to be entertaining.

-J.S. v.2.0.

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Thwap!