| From: | Brian Angliss <angliss@*****.COLORADO.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | CoT end and Interesting traffic |
| Date: | Thu, 11 Jun 1998 12:44:52 +0100 |
>>>>>[ CD: Commander Paul Drake
8B: Sergent 8-Ball, Matrix Expert
ST: Sergent Tagit
LM: Leutenant Commander Jose Montoya
ST: Morning, sir. How did you enjoy last night's performance of Les Miserable?
CD: Not bad. I've seen a much better version in London, I'm afraid. This
one wasn't a standing ovation performance, not hardly.
ST: You always try to catch performances when back at HQ?
CD: I try. Not much of a chance to do so, most of the time, but sometimes
it can be a nice break from work.
LM: Morning, Commander, Tagit. Sorry I'm late. I was finishing the final
Children of Thunda report.
CD: Well, why don't you give it to us, then, Monty. Just the high points.
I'll read the rest at a later date.
LM: Very well. First, all the devices were successfully removed. All of
the supposedly chemical weapons were actually thermite charges next to a
bunch of black currant yoghurt. Abbadon and his friends certainly have an
odd sense of humor, but all the black, pungent smoke pouring off the last
one, which we accidently set off, albeit harmlessly, certainly would have
had a major psychological effect.
Second, Azania's funding via the mine is totally shut down. Unfortunately,
it's not our fault. We were unable to sufficiently pressure the local
authorities to do much about it, but someone hired a couple of runner
teams, who went in and demolished the main shaft, which will shut them down
for several months, minimum. However, we did seize thier assets out of the
country, and so CoT's main funding, that we know of at least, is
effectively gone.
We were able to track down one of the people we feel is one of the inner
circle, but our operations spooked him, and he's disappeared. Where,
precisely, we don't know, but he's being actively searched for, and the
signatory nations have agreed to report to us if he's spotted. It could
mean that we never find him, but we'll see what happens in the next few
months.
Finally, it's looking like the main CoT group has been all but destroyed.
Of the list that Mercury supplied us with, all but 3 of the smugglers have
been arrested, shot while resisting arrest, or assassinated by shadow
operatives. Of course, this has created several large holes in the
European and North American smuggling and arms dealing trades, and there
have been some pretty bloody battles between people fighting over the
available turf.
ST: Just as a quick aside, our intel says that a good percentage of the
turf lost belonged to Man UpTown, which certainly lends some credence to
your idea that Dr. Jackson could have been the source of the names. But
there really hasn't been any single overriding force which has taken the
available turf, so there's no support to your theory that Dr. Jackson may
be re-activating his arms contacts.
CD: It's just a theory, Sergent, and I'm well aware that there's little to
no evidence for it. Call it a hunch, if you prefer. Is that all, Monty?
LM: Yes, Commander.
CD: All right, then. Sergent, why don't you tell us what's been up with
your end of things.
ST: Of course, sir. I've been keeping tabs on the recent rash of murders.
After so much terror, the simple murders are something of a release. One
group, the firebugs, appear to be pretty low-key, and as they appear to be
completely Seattle, we have no jurisdiction. The other set of murders,
recently identified on MagicNet and ShadowLand, specifically by an
individual known as Michael, appear to have the same connections that he
said they did. They could very easily all be Tarot deck related. Our
concern is that they'll begin to rise up to the higher echelons as the
numbers get larger, and that, like the Lone Star Dips seem to think, there
is actually a larger, magical connection between them all. As of yet, we
can't do anything but watch.
LM: Is the resemblance superficial, or is that what you don't know?
ST: If it's superficial, then we don't have to worry about it. They'll
run out of cards eventually. But what if each murder has a magical meaning
as well as a superficial meaning? If that's the case, the closer we get to
the end, the more powerful whoever is orchestrating this will become. I'm
not a mage, so I'm hardly an expert, but we are keeping a close eye on this
one.
CD: Good. Now, if there's <beep beep beep> Yes? Uh huh. Ok, sure, come
in. 8-Ball's found something interesting. Sergent, you said you found
something that I might be interested in?
8B: Um, yeah. I'm not sure it's necessarily anything, though....
CD: Just spit it out, 8-Ball.
8B: Ok. One of our random traffic frames pulled some work out of Boston
this morning that had an interesting signature. It appears that we found
Mercury chatting with someone in a secure meeting node. That's a little
bit more evidence that Mercury operates out of Boston, but that's a
different issue. What's most interesting was what the same traffic sniffer
frame found later, also coming out of Boston. This is a diagram of the
encryption signature on the communication that was intercepted. We only
got the one message, but we were able to cross-check it with our encryption
database, and we found a match.
LM: Cut to the chase, 8-Ball.
8B: Right. Sorry, sir. It's a Solitaire encryption, sir, with 98.371644%
likelihood. She always signed her algorithms and signatures with a pretty
distinctive style, and this one's got it. No idea what the content was, or
even the destination, but we're working on the decryption now.
Unfortunately, she was at least 5 years ahead of the curve in encryption
and decryption, and so we expect that breaking it will take us at least a
month. Sorry, but that's the best we can do without a lot more resources.
CD: Damn.... She's been dead for how long now, and her encryptions are
still popping up. When was the last one, 8-Ball?
8B: I'm sorry, sir, I don't understand.
CD: When did you see the most recent Solitaire-designed encryption?
8B: I haven't seen a non-Maxim modified algorithm since before she died,
sir, and this is definately a root algorithm. Pure, unmodified Solitaire.
CD: Are you sure?
8B: To 98.371644%, yes. Which means I'm more sure about this than I am
about most of the decisions I base my life on.
CD: Monty, who had access to her encryptions, besides AJ and Maxim?
LM: I'm not sure. Dante did, but he's been dead even longer than she has.
I imagine that she sold her algorithms to other deckers, but I'm not the
expert in that arena. 8-Ball?
8B: She sold only to a select group, maybe 8 or 10 deckers worldwide, and
she never sold something like this, to the best of my knowledge.
ST: Could Mercury have been one of her customers?
8B: Absolutely, although we have no evidence that it's him.
CD: So, it could be AJ and friends being extra-careful with some of thier
communications. 8-Ball, keep going on that one. I want it decrypted ASAP,
and let me know the instant it's done, whereever I am, whatever time it is.
8B: You got it, sir.
CD: Is that all? Good.]<<<<<
-- IPSB Conference Log <12:43:57/06-11-59>
