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Message no. 1
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 22:55:26 +0100
>>>>>[Whoa boy there! Have I got news for you guys!

How many of you read the Aztlan news? Not many, right?

Well, at the moment I do, my tutor's got me working on a comparsion of
reportage styles, but that's by the bye: point is, I'm having to wade
through stacks of the stuff, and most of it's as interesting and useful as
your typical UCAS news media, meaning if it were printed on softer paper
it might make decent drekwipe and that's the best you can say about it.


Anyway... I stumbled over this diamond buried deep in the drek.

+++++begin news item
+++++engage autotranslator Spanish -> English
FALLEN HERO GIVEN STATE FUNERAL
Minister of Defence Awards Our Highest Honour

The memorial service for Captain Raoul Cordovez of the Aztlan Intelligence
Service was held in his home town of Teyapas yesterday.

Captain Cordovez, who had served the Nation with distinction for seven
years, was killed in action while on "classified operations": but while his
deeds cannot be made public, the Minister of Defence and a number of
foreign delegates attended the service, together with a Jaguar honour
guard.

Conferring Captain Cordovez with the posthumous honour of Hero of the
Republic of Aztlan (First Class), the Minister praised his heroic devotion to
duty. "Captain Cordovez fought his country's enemies, even at the cost of
his own life, in circumstances that can not yet be made public. Raoul was
a noble patriot, who made the highest sacrifice for his country. It is with
pride and with sadness that I - as representative of that grateful nation -
award him the highest decoration we may grant.

"One day, it will be safe to speak of his deeds, without endangering the
other brave men and women whose struggle to protect our country goes
on: until then, we can only honour the memory of our lost hero, and pray
for the safety of his brothers in arms, who are even now closing ranks and
fighting on to guard our Nation from its enemies both within and
without."

Questioned after the service, the Minister denied that Captain Cordovez
had been killed aboard the destroyer K42, and refused to comment on
links between the Captain's death and the recent nuclear explosion in an
Indonesian archipelago. He cited "continuing operations" as the reason for
secrecy.

The foreign delegates included British and UCAS military representatives,
two of whom were among the Captain's pallbearers.

+++++include trideo clip
[A flag-draped coffin being borne out of a small town's church, by a mix
of uniforms: three AIS, one Leopard Guard, one UCAS Marine and one
UCAS Air Force.]

>>BUNGLE: That alone is _unheard of_: no wonder this didn't get
advertised outside the Teyapas local newsfax.<<

[Following them are seven Jaguar Guard in full dress uniform, rifles at
high port. A double file of other folk, a mix of civilian and mostly Aztlan
military, are behind that. The coffin is carried to the grave, where a
suited man - the Minister for Defence - reads the eulogy already reported.

The priest reads out a short service, and the honour guard fire three
volleys, as the Minister presents a older man who is sternly controlling his
grief - Cordovez' father? - with the cased medal and the folded flag.]


None were available for interview, unsurprising considering the veil of
secrecy that still hangs over the incident, but the Minister stated that the
Captain had fallen in the line of duty during "a co-operative international
action against a common enemy".

Captain Cordovez was unmarried with no descendants, and is survived only
by his father Enrico, a dedicated and loyal municipal servant. Such
dedicated service to the Republic of Aztlan should serve as an example to
us all.
+++++end news item

All fine and dandy so far, right? Nothing particularly unusual, except the
level of award they're handing out. That's Medal of Honour equivalent, so
this Cordovez guy must have been pretty damn brave or done something
pretty important. Any big news coming out of Aztlan? Not that I can find.
Not unusual, anyway.



But, are we curious as to who the foreign presence was? Well, looky here.
Zoom, enhance, sharpen, clean up the noise and we'll just see who we can
see...

+++++picture enhancement #1
[Emerging from the church behind the coffin is a young woman in British
Army #2 uniform, a dark-red beret atop her short blonde hair and the
silver Pegasus cap-badge catching the sun. She's apparently telling the
forgettable civilian next to her a joke: even in the photograph, her grin
has a slightly insane quality.]

Lieutenant the Lady Susan Rodriguez, Baroness Glamis. The Mighty Quinn
herself. Talking to David Coppinger, the Director of the Strategic
Intelligence Gathering Agency. At the funeral of an Aztlan spook. You may
imagine, all this came as something of a surprise to me.


As was this -

+++++picture enhancement #2
[Carrying Cordovez' coffin, a tall, lithe and remarkably beautiful woman in
UCAS Air Force dress uniform. Her dark-red hair is bound up out of the
way in a simple French plait, her eyes are a startling deep blue.]

Captain Lilith Running Wolf Lynch, UCAS Air Force, the Leopard Lady.
Okay, seeing her there with Quinn and Coppinger isn't _that_ surprising
except I have it on good authority that for a while Aztlan were ordering
her killed on sight.

And if somehow you're not surprised yet, first I say you're lying, second I
say get a load of _this_.

+++++picture enhancement #3
[The UCAS Marine, immaculate in his Class-A uniform, even to the sabre.
He's about six-two, lean to the point of being thin. Unusually, his grey-
shot black hair is loose, tied back in an Amerind style and threaded with
decorations: though if he's a Native American, his pale skin and grey eyes
are unusual.]

Jason Running Wolf Lynch.

Alive, breathing, and attending the funeral of an Aztlan Intelligence
Service hero.

Anyone want to tell me what in the name of fragging hellfires of Hades is
going on?]<<<<<
-- Bungle <22:52:45/06-14-60>

*****INTERNAL: SIGANet
>>>>>[TO: Major L R W Lynch
Yes, I jsut saw Bungle's little revelation.

Any reason not to answer? I've got a lot of friends still out there, and
fewer enemies than I once did.]<<<<<
-- Major J R W Lynch <22:57:53/06:14:60>
Strategic Intelligence Gathering Agency

*****INTERNAL: SIGANet
>>>>>[TO: Major J R W Lynch
Probably best if you don't.

The friends who'll forgive you for this will probably mail you to check. The
ones who won't... won't..]<<<<<
-- Major L R W Lynch <22:58:41/06-14-60>
Strategic Intelligence Gathering Agency


>
Message no. 2
From: Mach mach@****.caltech.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 16:41:04 -0700
>>>>>[Heh...so the Running-Wolf-Lynches aren't dead. Will the wonders
of government dis-information ever cease?

Given the crap I have to dredge through every day, I'm not surprised I
missed that little gem, Bungle. Guess I'll have to finagle me a
subscription to their wire-service. Just don't have many clients
interested in things south of the border.

Now that I think of it, last I had heard from the rummor-mill was that
Mrs. Lynch had gotten her cranium emptied by a sniper bullet. Guess I'm
behind the times of Spies and SuperAgents Monthly.

That, or SIGA decided that a pair of operatives with face and bod-jobs
to look like their most famous pair of spooks is just the thing to build
their already immortal reputation, and make some of the Bad Guys (tm)
quake in their boots. If they can walk the walk and talk the talk, will
any of us really care if they are original equipment? Hmph...if they
can't...would any of us care anyway?

Well, at least there more fun than Jen and Gabe, who last I heard
were taking candy from babies in Pullayup.]<<<<<
-- NewzJunkie <15:25:39/06-14-60 PDT>


*****PRIVATE: Lilith
>>>>>[First off, take my advice: shocking news and null-G don't mix.

That being said, I just saw those messages crossing Seattle S-Land.
So, does Bungle need his deck burned, or has your S/O really somehow
managed to come back from the grave?

My apologies for bringing it up if the former, our congrats if the
latter. I think I'll wait for confirmation or denial and for Hikaru to
be suitably stapled down before I pass this on. I'm nursing a rather
nasty bump on my head that I got bolting up after checking that latest
dump from S-Land. I was waiting on some of the Helios maintenance apes
to finish, got bored, you can imagine. Oh, uh, in case you haven't
guessed we're currently up-well on Daedalus, putting some more tweeks on
the Helios avionics N-nets.

Since I've managed to upgrade my way around some of the net-security
keeping me locked-out of S-Land, they've been keeping me too busy to
keep a regular check on things, but we'd both been hoping that no news
from your end was more or less good news.]<<<<<
-- Vernier <16:31:42/06-14-60 PDT>
Message no. 3
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 01:09:36 +0100
>>>>>[Hey, NewzJunkie, I don't make'em, I don't judge'em, I just
report'em. Just chance I caught the damn thing.

Could be fake. It's good work if it is, and why bury it so deep? This
Cordovez stiff hardly rated an inch in the Tenochtilan newsfax obituaries,
nary a peep in the main papers and not a whisper on broadcast news. Kind
of limited distribution for a fake-job, don'cha think?

Or now we're into "but we _want_ them to think that!" and other games
and my head hurts and I need more soykaf.

Like I said, I don't write it, I just filter and search. Beats hell out of me
what it means.


Oh, yeah... who're Jen and Gabe?]<<<<<
-- Bungle <01:07:45/06-15-60>
Message no. 4
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 01:12:59 +0100
>>>>>[We _deeply_ resent that implication, NewzJunkie. Just because
nobody on this board is worthy to observe our style, glamour and talent
firsthand, doesn't mean we haven't been busy. We've just been working at
a level above the local yokels who frequent this place these days.

After all... we pulled off every job asked of us, so slickly and smoothly
that not one person here heard of us. Why, Bungle paid us the ultimate
compliment a _real_ shadowrunner can have.

"Jen and Gabe who?"

Your whole world is dancing to the strings we pull and you don't even know
who we are.

Now _that_ is success.

By the way, Killer says hi.]<<<<<
-- Jen And Gabe <01:14:45/06-15-60>
Message no. 5
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 01:15:22 +0100
*****INTERNAL: SIGANet
>>>>>[TO: All SIGA Staff
Someone find Jake and sit on him. Hard. Now!]<<<<<
-- Major L R W Lynch <01:09:46/06-15-60>
Strategic Intelligence Gathering Agency

*****INTERNAL: SIGANet
>>>>>[TO: Major L R W Lynch
I tried.

Too late... he got a post off. Not too bad, either, it _looks_ like J&G's old
style... after all, he used to fake it once in a while...

He'd been at the Jolt Cola again. You _know_ what he's like when you give
him caffeine _and_ sugar.

I fed him some of those dried frog thingies Quinn gave me, and he seems
calmer now.]<<<<<
-- LCdr R E Tarkington <Furry:Fighting:Felines/Rule-The-Skies>
Strategic Intelligence Gathering Agency
Message no. 6
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 01:03:34 +0100
>>>>>[It appears quite clear that this is yet one further manifestation of
the sinister SIGA plot to ensnare and enslave all of (meta)humanity under
their jackbooted rule.

Once again deceit and disinformation are the tools of the ruling so-called-
elite as they attempt to manipulate the minds of the populace with
doctored recordings and edited videos.

Caught in their alliance with the bloody-handed devil-worshippers of
Aztlan, the cunning psychopaths (note that Jason Lynch boastfully used
_that very word_ as his callsign when flying!) of SIGA have sown seeds of
yet another deception, planting a doctored videotape in a backwater
Aztlan news service.

Since we, the Enlightened, never accepted the lie that either of the
assassins Lynch could have been killed, it was necessary to discredit our
painstaking research by other means. This fabrication is such an effort,
hiding the lies behind a facade of truth.

Would the Jason and Lilith Lynch we were shown by SIGA's liars have been
welcomed at the funeral of an Aztlan hero? A man who _died_ to
honourably defend his country against foreign oppressors?

We are asked to believe that the murderous Lynches, sworn enemies of
the Republic of Aztlan, would ever openly set foot in the homeland of their
supposed hated foe?

And this is why SIGA's deception is so cunning. By openly showcasing the
alliance of the Agency and its paid killers with the blood-god-worshippers
of Aztlan, they sow doubt and confusion in the minds of all those less
enlightened and less studious than we. Surely this must be a lie! Yet, it is
the simple, unalloyed truth.


And by showing something so bizarre, it casts doubt on _all_ issues. Surely
this cannot be true. Therefore the psychopath Lynch cannot truly live. He
must be dead, or at least still hiding from our scrutiny and gaze (for we,
who saw him for what he was, remain his greatest and most steadfast
foe). Therefore, any such announcements may be lies... or so we are
supposed to believe.



We will not be decieved! We will not be distracted! Join us and fight the
oppressors, or die at their hands like cattle in a slaughterhouse!

Hunt down Lynch and destroy him. Or be destroyed yourselves. The choice
is yours to make.]<<<<<
-- Professor Vincent Brannigan <01:02:45/06-15-60>
Oliver Stone Memorial Foundation
Message no. 7
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 00:50:29 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Vernier
>>>>>[Bungle is surprisingly resourceful. Yes, Jason is less dead than
rumour would have the world believe, and has been most productively busy
in his apparent absence.

If this word had broken a month ago, it would have been a catastrophe.
As it is, it could even be amusing: certainly it doesn't seem likely to be of
enormous consequence.

I'm glad to hear you and Hikaru are both well, busy and - by the sound of
things - enjoying yourselves. Jason and I intend to take a vacation, but we
won't - shouldn't be - _too_ far out of comms.

You're still likely to find us on the evaluation team, when you come to sell
Valkyries to the UCAS <g>]<<<<<
-- Lilith <00:50:42/06-15-60>
Message no. 8
From: Logan Graves logan1@*****.intercom.net
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 20:52:49 -0400
>>>>>[Is it Lynch or his doppleganger? Only time will tell.

So who's next, the Breathstealer, himself? Ha! Maybe hell's tired of the way
he's running things now. _That'd_ definitely ruin a few folks days--and number
them, too!]<<<<<
-- Ricochet Rita <23:43:26/06-14-60>
Message no. 9
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 14:28:24 -0500 (CDT)
>>>>>[My my my, the Swiss Family Lynch has only been undead for a little
while and they already miss us. We're touched, really. We're even more
touched that you didn't even bother notice Killer's obituary in last
month's Ultra Dangerous People Quarterly. Of course, you were probably
much too busy staging yet another fake PR incident with black clad feds
storming in to save the day and nuke the oh so scary bug menace to bother
to keep up on what's happening in the real world.

Come on, people, if you're trying to manipulate the public into adoring
you, at least do something interesting. Nukes haven't been sexy since we
blew up Maxim.

Oh, and be a dear, lose the skin tight black nomex bodysuit. It's so '56.
And you looked bad in it then, too.

Love and Kisses,]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <14:12:42/06-15-60>
Message no. 10
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 14:51:46 -0500 (CDT)
*****NOT TO: NewzJunkie
>>>>>[Silly script kiddie, we wouldn't dare cut in on your candy turf.
We're sooo concerned about some little delinquent who doesn't even know a
staged-Lynch-fakes-another-death-media-blitz when he see one.

I bet the little whiner can't even read this without someone forwarding it
to him.

We _were_ going to tell everyone just where short-dark-and-swarthy's been
hiding all this time, but if you can't be nice, we won't. Nyeh.]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <14:35:39/06-15-60 PDT>
Message no. 11
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 21:52:00 +0100
>>>>>[Oh, great, Jen and Gabe are arguing with themselves again...

Life really _is_ back to normal if those two wilsons are back.

Mind you - I should have guessed, just from the smell of rotting
tuna.]<<<<<
-- The Mighty Quinn <21:51:35/06-15-60>
Message no. 12
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 21:53:08 +0100
>>>>>[Who's "short, dark and swarthy"?]<<<<<
-- Bungle <21:53:47/06-15-60>
Message no. 13
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:06:32 -0500 (CDT)
>>>>>[ '[Who's "short, dark and swarthy"?]' -- Bungle

My, aren't you defensive. No, not you. You're more of a 'squat and
squalid' type. We were, of course, refering to the Big Papa Daddy of the
Lynch Whack-A-Mole clan.

Oops, did we say mole? Nevermind that, you'll never find her
anyway.]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <16:03:47/06-16-60>
Message no. 14
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:10:33 -0500 (CDT)
>>>>>[Drek. Thanks Quinn. We did forget to toss out Killer's last meal.

Of course, that still doesn't explain the smell on your end.

We blame Lynch.]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <16:09:35/06-15-60>
Message no. 15
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 22:26:35 +0100
>>>>>[Uh, Jen and Gabe, I wouldn't want to rain on your parade, but
Lynch - at least the one for public release - was six-two and pale as a
ghost.

+++++include picture: JRWLynch25.jpg
+++++include picture: Jason_Lynch_SIGA.jpg
+++++include picture: Lynch_Justy43.jpg
+++++include picture: JRWL45.gif

'Short, dark and swarthy'? Shyeah, right...

I mean, you guys already have a rep for cluelessness, you don't want to
make _that_ sort of simple basic mistake...]<<<<<
-- Bungle <22:26:45/06-15-60>
Message no. 16
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:39:22 -0500 (CDT)
>>>>>[Uh, Bungle? Lynch doesn't wear Night Ninja[tm] black bodywear,
either. Read between the lines...

...

...

No, no hope of that, around these parts. We're trying to bait him, and
you're getting in the way. Go buy some candy or some nudie pics or
something, and leave us grownups alone.

+++++Credit upload: .5nY

Now go away.]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <16:38:42/06-15-60>
Message no. 17
From: Frank Pelletier (Trinity) fpelletier@******.usherb.ca
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 18:48:20 -0400
>>>>>[No...

Mrs. Lynch is not what she seemed to be. Cyan never missed anyone from
that distance. I guess our dear agent has a few tricks up her sleeves for
any would-be assasin.

Then again, that applies to the Old Wolf himself. An exploding plane.
I'd pay to know how he got out of that one.]<<<<<
-- Spiral <18:40:43/06-15-60 EST>

*****Private: Major L R W Lynch
>>>>>[It's been a while.

We just found some interresting footage. A 30-year old computer, of all
things. I thought you had more class. But the ends justifies the means,
and I will not argue with you over his death. We respect what you did, even
though it might be a while before we accept it. C'est la vie, neh? I was
never as emotional as the others.

One last thing, before you resume your Oh-so-important duty to the American
people. You left Blue alone. I am pleased to see that. I hope it says
that way.

Should that change, however...]<<<<<
-- Spiral <18:42:43/06-15-60 EST>
Message no. 18
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 23:49:15 +0100
>>>>>[Baiting? Yeah, you two are masters at that, aren't
you...]<<<<<
-- The Mighty Quinn <23:46:26/06016-60>
Message no. 19
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 00:06:05 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Spiral
>>>>>[The ends justify the means? Spiral, you have no idea what you're
talking about, or what part Cyan played in the game. Don't be asinine.


And a word of warning. Unless Blue turns serial killer, we won't touch her.
But Haze had many more enemies than us: and some of them may not be
content that the Breathstealer died by someone else's hand.]<<<<<
-- Lilith <00:05:45/06-16-60>
Message no. 20
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 23:53:06 +0100
>>>>>[Keep your money, kids, you'll need it to go buy a clue with. I hear
there's a Buy-One-Get-One-Free Special at Kwik-Mart.

I read the analysis on you. Couple of schoolkids with some interesting
fetishes... amusing but insignificant.

Just admit you don't know drek, and leave it at that, okay? Some of us
have _work_ to do round here...]<<<<<
-- Bungle <23:52:45/06-16-60>
Message no. 21
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 19:14:08 -0500 (CDT)
>>>>>[Takes one to know one.

At least we _Have_ a sex life, Miss High Lord Baroness of Living All Alone
In A Big Cold Drafty Castle.

Maybe if you clear up that fish smell, you won't be quite so lonely.

Did we just say that? We're so catty sometimes. No, not like that,
Lilly dear.

Speaking of which, say 'Hi' to our new baby.

+++++include picture: Kalico_cat_with_bow.sgvm

We're calling her Killer, just so all our fans don't get confused.

Toodles,]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <17:06:26/06-16-60>
Message no. 22
From: Mach mach@****.caltech.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 17:37:32 -0700
>>>>>[So what have we learned here today, folx?

1) Jen and Gabe are still easier to bait than kittens with a feather
dangled in front of them.

2) Just because your a prof, you too can be a complete nutcase. Well,
that he is--or at least seems to be--connected with the Oliver Stone
Memorial Foundation for Advanced Conspiratorial Theory may have more
than a little to do with this....

3) Disinformation breeds speculation breeds ejaculation (vocal or, well
otherwise for those Master's of Baiting Jen and Gabe...).

Oh and this one's for Bungle: 4) Never eat a Kwik-Mart burger. Good
God, I've eaten dogfood that tasted better than that (nyah nyah, my
folks had a dog when I was little so you can shove the jokes in some
uncomfortable orifice). Forget myco or soy...those buggers are like
mildly disinfected protein extracted from sewage. Took a liter of Jukie
(tm) to wash the taste out of my mouth. I hadn't wretched so hard since
they test-marketed the VunderBar here in the States.

Bleagh.]<<<<<
-- NewzJunkie <17:37:49/06-15-60 PDT>
Message no. 23
From: Mach mach@****.caltech.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 19:31:23 -0700
*****PRIVATE: Lilith
>>>>>[Wow, and congratulations, and we're both really happy for you
guys.

So, we're not exactly close enough to be invited to your guy's house on
holidays, but Jason's plane going down hit pretty hard. Although, I
guess Hikaru took it especially hard, she didn't want to talk about it,
and all I could get her to tell me about it was that she'd always
figured she'd go out some day like that. I guess having a friend go out
that way made it seem more real than she wanted to deal with. It's
going to take a little getting used to, knowing he's alive again, but I
mean, you guys have "saving the world" as part of your job description,
so I guess a little miracle from time to time is par for the course.
Okay...so I'll be honest, maybe Hikaru wasn't as ecstatic about it as I
thought she would be. She can be hard to read sometimes.... So that's
why I'm writing and not her, but I know she is really happy for you
both, she's just got a lot on her mind and that sort of thing.

I hope you have a good time on your vacation, and that you guys can have
some real peace and quiet for a while. No guns blazing, bombs blasting,
etc. should be a good change, ne? We're stuck up the Well for another
week or so, depending on how the test-flights go, so I don't know when/
if we'll get a chance to socialize. It's not been too hard getting the
N-nets to get used to working with a gun-slug like the Helios, or the
pilots, but well, when has a test-program never run into a glitch or
gremlin here or there? And well, the variable-set for aero_space_
operations vs. aero operations is sufficently different to be annoying,
but I'll not bore you with that. I must say I'm really starting to look
forward to that orbital flight home...although Hikaru's going to be
getting down the "hard way." No more of what they euphamistically call
"resource management" and I call not being able to take a decent shower.
Can't mess up the air-scrubbers with something like a little
fragrance.... Mentioning of the word "bath" sends the life-support
personnel into conniptions, even though it is at least theoretically
possible in the G'd sections. Bet they wouldn't put up with this sort
of thing on Z-O, but then this is a "research facility" and doesn't have
a fraction of Z-O's budget.

Uh-oh...Mgmnt. 'Scuse me while I put on my "Happy Worker" face while he
floats by and I continue to deck some email...not like he'd know I was
doing that or reprogramming the N-nets to attack the station at their
earliest convenience or was DLing the latest Aviation Leak--I mean
Week...well maybe the latter because I'd be drooling. You know how
turbines and rotors can get a girl all hot and bothered. You may have
missed it, but a month back or so they profiled the Valkyries 'cause the
CAS is buying them. They said about the same thing as everybody else:
flies great, neural-net co-pilots weird us out, you want to put WHAT?
WHERE? (the Pilot Augmentation System (tm)), too expensive, but overall,
a positive review. The pictures are the best part of the article. The
worst part--I still can't believe it, but if they say it, it's true--the
CAS wants to rename them for their Air Force. Although I guess we can't
really stop them. I think it's just that they think the name for the
SEAD variant, Vidar is goofy. Come on, Norse God of Silence and
Revenge, slayer of the Fenris wolf, what could be better? Well, at
least it's better than Huginn or Muninn. Dunno when Ares is going to be
pitching a DEM/EVAL with the UCAS, I figure something is already in the
works, but the vips aren't telling us too much these days.

Anyway...yeah. Glad to hear Jason is back among the living. We'll see
about hooking up for a hello some time after we're back on Terra.]<<<<<
-- Vernier <19:28:34/06-15-60 PDT>
Message no. 24
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 17:32:26 +0100
>>>>>[Jenna, Gabriel, for it to be a "sex life" then there have
to be at
least _two_ people involved... (three's more fun IMO, but never mind that
right now).

Just a word to the wise... which means it's wasted on you, I know.]<<<<<
-- The Mighty Quinn <17:32:45/06-16-60>
Message no. 25
From: Brion David Wauters bdw8@****.ucc.nau.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 11:09:33 -0700 (MST)
***** PRIVATE: Lilith
>>>>>[I'm not trying to open old wounds, but I just saw some fairly decent
indications that Lynch is among the living. If its true, congradulations
& how the hell did he manage that (last time I checked, being in a plane
when it fireballs was universally fatal)? If its not ture, I thought you
would want to know that some fragger is counterfiting your husband.]<<<<<
-- Irish <11:08:40/06-16-60>
Message no. 26
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 22:54:08 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Irish
>>>>>[Hiya, Irish.

No, I'm not dead. Haven't been so close very often, though. I wouldn't
recommend trying to copy the feat.

How did I survive? As far as I can tell, from looking at Lilith's report (my
own recording gear was SOL after the little contretemps), my aircraft got
speared by a UIM-199C Kingfisher, fired under reversionary optical
guidance. I'd already dodged one, which set me up perfectly for the
second: whoever was firing them knew _exactly_ what they were doing.
Must have been a sellout job by Von Drexler, the shooter was perfectly
placed.

The missile hit dead centre, between the engines and right in the #3 fuel
tank, and blew the aircraft apart. The fuel in #3 and #2 stopped the
shrapnel, plus it absorbed a fair bit of the shockwave (hydrostatic shock
blew most of the airframe apart at the seams, though). The detached
nose section (including the cockpit, with me inside) was still fairly intact
so the flame front from the fuel-fed fire just washed over it, scorched it,
didn't do much damage. So far I'm still not doing too badly.


Of course, the nose section - bereft of wings, engines, and anything
except mass and a roughly aerodynamic shape - then hit the Atlantic at
about three hundred miles an hour. Good as the crash dynamics of the
K71 seat are, they're only so good... the doctors later counted eleven
fractured bones (and those are _laced_ bones) plus I'd dislocated both
shoulders and collected assorted internal injuries from the two impacts
(missile hits me, I hit the water).

And at that point, most people would have drowned, unconscious,
bleeding, still strapped into the seat. Unless they had one of those handy
implanted air tanks. Which I do, and which saved my life.



I came to after, I don't know, fifteen minutes maybe, because it was
_cold_ and wet and miserable and my air was running out, managed to
fire the ejection seat, and because it's good Russian kit it didn't deploy the
parachutes (I'd most likely have died, drowned tangled in those miles of
nylon) and just let me float to the surface. Even inflated my life jacket
for me when I got there. I managed to fire the dye markers myself, but I
don't remember doing it.


And there I was, floating painfully along, when the helicopter from the
UCASS _Sandstro"m_ found me. Go directly to Intensive Care, do not pass
Go, do not collect two hundred nuyen.


Where did I go next? Well, SIGA had just picked up a mindwiped LCdr
Mitchell in the UCAS Sector of Denver, where Aztlan had staged a little
theatrical act to give us a captured, personality-programmed man they'd
caught a few months before. He needed serious hospital time to put back
together. So did I. Wasn't the switch so _obvious_ in retrospect?


It worked. The good guys won. And now I'm on vacation.]<<<<<
-- Lynch <22:50:43/06-16-60>
Message no. 27
From: Brion David Wauters bdw8@****.ucc.nau.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 11:04:18 -0700 (MST)
***** PRIVATE: Lynch
>>>>>[So, your plane _didn't_ fireball, it just looked that way. Teaches
me not to belevive what I see on the news.

Implanted air tank? I'll have to look into one of those.

Well, welcome back & congradulations! Are you going to be staging a
come-back, or just
lurking behind the scenes? Or is that classified?

If these "miraculous escapes" keep up, who knows what'l show up? I better
double check the mortuary records and make sure Dante really _is_ dead
(the fragger always did seem to have something up his sleeve).]<<<<<
--Irish <11:03:24/06-18-60>
Message no. 28
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 23:33:55 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Irish
>>>>>[Oh, hell, that was a _beautiful_ fireball, Irish. If I'd been hit
like
that over land they'd have been picking pieces of me up with a shovel.

One reason I'm getting out of the business for a while. You can't be that
lucky too often.


I think I'd better stay dead for a while. Even the mutters so far are
stirring more reaction than I like. Remember, the Children of Thunda
killed a couple of _thousand_ people trying to get me to stick my head in
their trap (not that doing so would have helped...) and I don't want any
repeats.

Friends I trust - like you - are one thing. The world at large thinks I'm
dead, and right now I see no reason to disillusion them.

You keeping okay? The board's been quiet a while, I was concerned - a lot
of people I like haven't been saying much. Did I miss anything
important?]<<<<<
-- Lynch <23:33:49/06-18-60>
Message no. 29
From: Jhary-a-Conel jhary-a-conel@***.de
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999 16:55:19 +0200
>>>>>[ Problem is, Jen, Gabe, you made a fool of yourselves with your
messages to this forum. Were you as pro as you claim to be, you had
kept a low profile here, too. Instead, any time you appear you act light a
verbal flare, drawing all attention to...

...

Hm, there's a thought. But as long as we just have your arrogant, self-
centered blanter, and not even a hint you do more then just babbling, oh so
please excuse us for doubting.

As for the other thing: Nope, can't have been Lynch. Impossible. As
unfortunate as it is, Lynch is dead. Apart from the proof, that obviously
was good enough to convince someone to pay /lots/ of money, I know
someone who said he felt him die on April the 25th, 2059. As this is
something to do with magic, I can't verify it, but trust the source.

What has been going on there in Aztlan I can't say, or even guess, maybe
it was some hint for the Azzies, "Look, we can get your enemy right back"
or something. I just find it disturbingly unfair for Lynch's wife and child, and
would _really_ like to teach the one responsible for this some lectures in
ethics. ]<<<<<
-- Orion <07:54:01/06-20-60>
Message no. 30
From: Brion David Wauters bdw8@****.ucc.nau.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 11:04:29 -0700 (MST)
*****PRIVATE: Lynch
>>>>>[Only a shovel? Last time I saw a plane fireball, they used a
sponge.

Your right, those CoT kooks might resurface if they heard you where back,
and I think we can all live without that. Not to mention all the
conspiracy theorists (I thought _I_ was parinoid).

Let's see...Haze bought his farm, we had a bug problem, Renraku has sealed
itself off from the rest of the world, can't think of much else. It
_has_ been rather quite for the past few months, hasn't it?]<<<<<

-- Irish <11:04:50/06-22-60>
Message no. 31
From: Brion David Wauters bdw8@****.ucc.nau.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 11:09:09 -0700 (MST)
>>>>>[Hmm, teaching the Azzies...if this involves great amounts of bodily
injury, I like to volinter to help, Orion.]<<<<<

-- Irish <11:08:30/06-22-60>
Message no. 32
From: Jhary-a-Conel jhary-a-conel@***.de
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 23:09:40 +0200
>>>>>[ Would include drastic reorganisation of some body parts, yes.
But I guess we have no chance to find the responsible person(s) - first of
all, this *is* Azzie-Land, second, this smells like spook-secret-service-
stuff, third, I guess we would have to stand in line for our turn if that
paydata was available...

Doesn't mean I am not looking, though. ]<<<<<
-- Orion <14:07:21/06-22-60>

>>>>>[ And *not* just the technomancer is looking... ]<<<<<
-- Canis <14:09:23/06-22-60>

*****PRIVATE: Canis
>>>>>[ Drek, I told you not to post while I am not there to cover the
datatracks! ]<<<<<
-- Orion <14:09:29/06-22-60>
Message no. 33
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 23:18:29 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Orion
>>>>>[Spook-secret-service stuff? You rang, m'lord?

We might be able to help, if you like. Well, 'we' is a misnomer. I'm taking
a break from field work, but we still have some good people around both
for intel work and for more... direct action.

If we can help you, let us know.



By the way, whoever says they felt Jason die... is wrong.]<<<<<
-- Lilith <23:18:57/06-22-60>
Message no. 34
From: Jhary-a-Conel jhary-a-conel@***.de
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 11:49:35 +0200
***** PRIVATE: Lilith
>>>>>[ Well... the fact that, and how you answered, in fact already
cleared the question. We assume ... assumed some political move to
have someone imitate your husband in Aztlan. Now, when you say "the
rumours of his demise are greatly exaggerated", ... well ... there is no
politican who's butt needs kicked. Well, not for this incident, at least.

I am really glad to hear the news, and guess its strictly confidential? We'll
keep it to us... especially as there are still some doubts. Well.. he'll tear
my head right off if he finds out, but somehow I feel you have the right to
see this.

+++++begin include: SecCam023.mov
"Nope." The security camera covers a small, untidy room. Lots of crates -
most of them in military green - are stacked at the walls, and several rifles
are lying around, used, but well maintained by the looks.

"No way, it is simply not possible." A group of people, loosley gathered
around a table, most of them smoking. The man speaking, in his early
thirties, although his black hair and beard already show strains of grey,
stares at the group through pale black cybereyes. A large scar crosses
his face, and the place where his left eye once was. "See? I *did* feel his
life vanishing. You all know we were involved in this C-o-T-shit at the time.
And I *felt* how he died..."

"Uh, sure, but... see... we have a picture - " The tall elf is interrupted.
"Orion, you did detect the picture must have been tampered with. It is
fake!"

"Well, yeah. The one I got out of Aztlan, yeah. But - it was of much better
quality then Bungle's, and I didn't find traces of tampering on his copy. My
guess is someone uploaded the new picture to make people think Bungle
falsified it..." The elf points with the hilt of a tender blade, a katana, the
blade following his arm, to illustrate his argument. His eyes are hidden by
dark glasses, but the tatoo'ed black flashes are clearly visible in his face,
as is his tiredness.

"But you are not a graphics expert. Bungle for sure is!" Slight desperation
dwells within Canis' voice.

"But," the bulky man in field camouflage who's just cleaning a disassmbled
hunting rifle draws the attention, "_but_ we get this mail from Md Lynch,
Canis. Can't see a reason why she'd lie to us?"

"Don't know. Poitical reasons? Maybe it's from someone else? Orion said
he can't verify adresses from such secure areas..."
+++++end include: SecCam023.mov

This continued a long time. He's adamant.

See, the problem is, he is _sure_ your husband dies. Don't get me wrong -
Canis likes him, and for sure would be glad to see him alive - but so far he
can't get his mind on even the theoretical possibility. Sometimes these
magic-users are strange. Canis didn't get used to my new "looks" when I
had a new liver implanted after some beast decided mine could be a nice
snack on our last mission, and it took him a few weeks.

Don't know. Well, our best wishes and greetings to your husband, and to
Stephanie (_and_ George, of course :-), and thanks a lot for your mail.
]<<<<<
-- Orion <02:47:49/06-25-60>
Message no. 35
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 21:20:23 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Orion
>>>>>[Yes, I'm alive. No, I'm not going public with that.

Just for once, Aztlan and the UCAS found someone we _both_ really
hated. We went in, close and dirty, kicked his butt 'till it bled, came
home. Aztlan are pretty upset about that little leak from Cordovez's
hometown paper, they've covered their tracks.

Pity about Raoul, too. He was a good guy. We'd been enemies a while, but
he was a professional - there was a bigger threat to Aztlan than Lilith and
I, so he dropped all the rivalry and co-operated fully with us and died
fighting by our side. Can't ever ask more than that.

I guess the truce between us and Aztlan (family, I mean) will last as long
as I stay out of sight and out of the field. Which suits me fine. I did my
part and now I'm due some leave. Between Aztlan and the UCAS... we're
already back to being enemies. Oh, well.

It's definitely best for all concerned if I remain publicly dead for a while.
The main core of the Children of Thunda - the brains of the outfit - were
destroyed, but I don't want anyone gunning for me or killing civilians to
get me into the open. Can't handle that any more. I'm too old for these
games.

You guys... are part of the exceptions to that rule. If Canis ever changes
his mind, let him know. You're good people to know.


If you need backup, help, assistance, whatever, you know you have
friends.]<<<<<
-- Lynch <21:20:46/6-26-60>
Message no. 36
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 22:55:26 +0100
>>>>>[Whoa boy there! Have I got news for you guys!

How many of you read the Aztlan news? Not many, right?

Well, at the moment I do, my tutor's got me working on a comparsion of
reportage styles, but that's by the bye: point is, I'm having to wade
through stacks of the stuff, and most of it's as interesting and useful as
your typical UCAS news media, meaning if it were printed on softer paper
it might make decent drekwipe and that's the best you can say about it.


Anyway... I stumbled over this diamond buried deep in the drek.

+++++begin news item
+++++engage autotranslator Spanish -> English
FALLEN HERO GIVEN STATE FUNERAL
Minister of Defence Awards Our Highest Honour

The memorial service for Captain Raoul Cordovez of the Aztlan Intelligence
Service was held in his home town of Teyapas yesterday.

Captain Cordovez, who had served the Nation with distinction for seven
years, was killed in action while on "classified operations": but while his
deeds cannot be made public, the Minister of Defence and a number of
foreign delegates attended the service, together with a Jaguar honour
guard.

Conferring Captain Cordovez with the posthumous honour of Hero of the
Republic of Aztlan (First Class), the Minister praised his heroic devotion to
duty. "Captain Cordovez fought his country's enemies, even at the cost of
his own life, in circumstances that can not yet be made public. Raoul was
a noble patriot, who made the highest sacrifice for his country. It is with
pride and with sadness that I - as representative of that grateful nation -
award him the highest decoration we may grant.

"One day, it will be safe to speak of his deeds, without endangering the
other brave men and women whose struggle to protect our country goes
on: until then, we can only honour the memory of our lost hero, and pray
for the safety of his brothers in arms, who are even now closing ranks and
fighting on to guard our Nation from its enemies both within and
without."

Questioned after the service, the Minister denied that Captain Cordovez
had been killed aboard the destroyer K42, and refused to comment on
links between the Captain's death and the recent nuclear explosion in an
Indonesian archipelago. He cited "continuing operations" as the reason for
secrecy.

The foreign delegates included British and UCAS military representatives,
two of whom were among the Captain's pallbearers.

+++++include trideo clip
[A flag-draped coffin being borne out of a small town's church, by a mix
of uniforms: three AIS, one Leopard Guard, one UCAS Marine and one
UCAS Air Force.]

>>BUNGLE: That alone is _unheard of_: no wonder this didn't get
advertised outside the Teyapas local newsfax.<<

[Following them are seven Jaguar Guard in full dress uniform, rifles at
high port. A double file of other folk, a mix of civilian and mostly Aztlan
military, are behind that. The coffin is carried to the grave, where a
suited man - the Minister for Defence - reads the eulogy already reported.

The priest reads out a short service, and the honour guard fire three
volleys, as the Minister presents a older man who is sternly controlling his
grief - Cordovez' father? - with the cased medal and the folded flag.]


None were available for interview, unsurprising considering the veil of
secrecy that still hangs over the incident, but the Minister stated that the
Captain had fallen in the line of duty during "a co-operative international
action against a common enemy".

Captain Cordovez was unmarried with no descendants, and is survived only
by his father Enrico, a dedicated and loyal municipal servant. Such
dedicated service to the Republic of Aztlan should serve as an example to
us all.
+++++end news item

All fine and dandy so far, right? Nothing particularly unusual, except the
level of award they're handing out. That's Medal of Honour equivalent, so
this Cordovez guy must have been pretty damn brave or done something
pretty important. Any big news coming out of Aztlan? Not that I can find.
Not unusual, anyway.



But, are we curious as to who the foreign presence was? Well, looky here.
Zoom, enhance, sharpen, clean up the noise and we'll just see who we can
see...

+++++picture enhancement #1
[Emerging from the church behind the coffin is a young woman in British
Army #2 uniform, a dark-red beret atop her short blonde hair and the
silver Pegasus cap-badge catching the sun. She's apparently telling the
forgettable civilian next to her a joke: even in the photograph, her grin
has a slightly insane quality.]

Lieutenant the Lady Susan Rodriguez, Baroness Glamis. The Mighty Quinn
herself. Talking to David Coppinger, the Director of the Strategic
Intelligence Gathering Agency. At the funeral of an Aztlan spook. You may
imagine, all this came as something of a surprise to me.


As was this -

+++++picture enhancement #2
[Carrying Cordovez' coffin, a tall, lithe and remarkably beautiful woman in
UCAS Air Force dress uniform. Her dark-red hair is bound up out of the
way in a simple French plait, her eyes are a startling deep blue.]

Captain Lilith Running Wolf Lynch, UCAS Air Force, the Leopard Lady.
Okay, seeing her there with Quinn and Coppinger isn't _that_ surprising
except I have it on good authority that for a while Aztlan were ordering
her killed on sight.

And if somehow you're not surprised yet, first I say you're lying, second I
say get a load of _this_.

+++++picture enhancement #3
[The UCAS Marine, immaculate in his Class-A uniform, even to the sabre.
He's about six-two, lean to the point of being thin. Unusually, his grey-
shot black hair is loose, tied back in an Amerind style and threaded with
decorations: though if he's a Native American, his pale skin and grey eyes
are unusual.]

Jason Running Wolf Lynch.

Alive, breathing, and attending the funeral of an Aztlan Intelligence
Service hero.

Anyone want to tell me what in the name of fragging hellfires of Hades is
going on?]<<<<<
-- Bungle <22:52:45/06-14-60>

*****INTERNAL: SIGANet
>>>>>[TO: Major L R W Lynch
Yes, I jsut saw Bungle's little revelation.

Any reason not to answer? I've got a lot of friends still out there, and
fewer enemies than I once did.]<<<<<
-- Major J R W Lynch <22:57:53/06:14:60>
Strategic Intelligence Gathering Agency

*****INTERNAL: SIGANet
>>>>>[TO: Major J R W Lynch
Probably best if you don't.

The friends who'll forgive you for this will probably mail you to check. The
ones who won't... won't..]<<<<<
-- Major L R W Lynch <22:58:41/06-14-60>
Strategic Intelligence Gathering Agency


>
Message no. 37
From: Mach mach@****.caltech.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 16:41:04 -0700
>>>>>[Heh...so the Running-Wolf-Lynches aren't dead. Will the wonders
of government dis-information ever cease?

Given the crap I have to dredge through every day, I'm not surprised I
missed that little gem, Bungle. Guess I'll have to finagle me a
subscription to their wire-service. Just don't have many clients
interested in things south of the border.

Now that I think of it, last I had heard from the rummor-mill was that
Mrs. Lynch had gotten her cranium emptied by a sniper bullet. Guess I'm
behind the times of Spies and SuperAgents Monthly.

That, or SIGA decided that a pair of operatives with face and bod-jobs
to look like their most famous pair of spooks is just the thing to build
their already immortal reputation, and make some of the Bad Guys (tm)
quake in their boots. If they can walk the walk and talk the talk, will
any of us really care if they are original equipment? Hmph...if they
can't...would any of us care anyway?

Well, at least there more fun than Jen and Gabe, who last I heard
were taking candy from babies in Pullayup.]<<<<<
-- NewzJunkie <15:25:39/06-14-60 PDT>


*****PRIVATE: Lilith
>>>>>[First off, take my advice: shocking news and null-G don't mix.

That being said, I just saw those messages crossing Seattle S-Land.
So, does Bungle need his deck burned, or has your S/O really somehow
managed to come back from the grave?

My apologies for bringing it up if the former, our congrats if the
latter. I think I'll wait for confirmation or denial and for Hikaru to
be suitably stapled down before I pass this on. I'm nursing a rather
nasty bump on my head that I got bolting up after checking that latest
dump from S-Land. I was waiting on some of the Helios maintenance apes
to finish, got bored, you can imagine. Oh, uh, in case you haven't
guessed we're currently up-well on Daedalus, putting some more tweeks on
the Helios avionics N-nets.

Since I've managed to upgrade my way around some of the net-security
keeping me locked-out of S-Land, they've been keeping me too busy to
keep a regular check on things, but we'd both been hoping that no news
from your end was more or less good news.]<<<<<
-- Vernier <16:31:42/06-14-60 PDT>
Message no. 38
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 01:09:36 +0100
>>>>>[Hey, NewzJunkie, I don't make'em, I don't judge'em, I just
report'em. Just chance I caught the damn thing.

Could be fake. It's good work if it is, and why bury it so deep? This
Cordovez stiff hardly rated an inch in the Tenochtilan newsfax obituaries,
nary a peep in the main papers and not a whisper on broadcast news. Kind
of limited distribution for a fake-job, don'cha think?

Or now we're into "but we _want_ them to think that!" and other games
and my head hurts and I need more soykaf.

Like I said, I don't write it, I just filter and search. Beats hell out of me
what it means.


Oh, yeah... who're Jen and Gabe?]<<<<<
-- Bungle <01:07:45/06-15-60>
Message no. 39
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 01:12:59 +0100
>>>>>[We _deeply_ resent that implication, NewzJunkie. Just because
nobody on this board is worthy to observe our style, glamour and talent
firsthand, doesn't mean we haven't been busy. We've just been working at
a level above the local yokels who frequent this place these days.

After all... we pulled off every job asked of us, so slickly and smoothly
that not one person here heard of us. Why, Bungle paid us the ultimate
compliment a _real_ shadowrunner can have.

"Jen and Gabe who?"

Your whole world is dancing to the strings we pull and you don't even know
who we are.

Now _that_ is success.

By the way, Killer says hi.]<<<<<
-- Jen And Gabe <01:14:45/06-15-60>
Message no. 40
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 01:15:22 +0100
*****INTERNAL: SIGANet
>>>>>[TO: All SIGA Staff
Someone find Jake and sit on him. Hard. Now!]<<<<<
-- Major L R W Lynch <01:09:46/06-15-60>
Strategic Intelligence Gathering Agency

*****INTERNAL: SIGANet
>>>>>[TO: Major L R W Lynch
I tried.

Too late... he got a post off. Not too bad, either, it _looks_ like J&G's old
style... after all, he used to fake it once in a while...

He'd been at the Jolt Cola again. You _know_ what he's like when you give
him caffeine _and_ sugar.

I fed him some of those dried frog thingies Quinn gave me, and he seems
calmer now.]<<<<<
-- LCdr R E Tarkington <Furry:Fighting:Felines/Rule-The-Skies>
Strategic Intelligence Gathering Agency
Message no. 41
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 01:03:34 +0100
>>>>>[It appears quite clear that this is yet one further manifestation of
the sinister SIGA plot to ensnare and enslave all of (meta)humanity under
their jackbooted rule.

Once again deceit and disinformation are the tools of the ruling so-called-
elite as they attempt to manipulate the minds of the populace with
doctored recordings and edited videos.

Caught in their alliance with the bloody-handed devil-worshippers of
Aztlan, the cunning psychopaths (note that Jason Lynch boastfully used
_that very word_ as his callsign when flying!) of SIGA have sown seeds of
yet another deception, planting a doctored videotape in a backwater
Aztlan news service.

Since we, the Enlightened, never accepted the lie that either of the
assassins Lynch could have been killed, it was necessary to discredit our
painstaking research by other means. This fabrication is such an effort,
hiding the lies behind a facade of truth.

Would the Jason and Lilith Lynch we were shown by SIGA's liars have been
welcomed at the funeral of an Aztlan hero? A man who _died_ to
honourably defend his country against foreign oppressors?

We are asked to believe that the murderous Lynches, sworn enemies of
the Republic of Aztlan, would ever openly set foot in the homeland of their
supposed hated foe?

And this is why SIGA's deception is so cunning. By openly showcasing the
alliance of the Agency and its paid killers with the blood-god-worshippers
of Aztlan, they sow doubt and confusion in the minds of all those less
enlightened and less studious than we. Surely this must be a lie! Yet, it is
the simple, unalloyed truth.


And by showing something so bizarre, it casts doubt on _all_ issues. Surely
this cannot be true. Therefore the psychopath Lynch cannot truly live. He
must be dead, or at least still hiding from our scrutiny and gaze (for we,
who saw him for what he was, remain his greatest and most steadfast
foe). Therefore, any such announcements may be lies... or so we are
supposed to believe.



We will not be decieved! We will not be distracted! Join us and fight the
oppressors, or die at their hands like cattle in a slaughterhouse!

Hunt down Lynch and destroy him. Or be destroyed yourselves. The choice
is yours to make.]<<<<<
-- Professor Vincent Brannigan <01:02:45/06-15-60>
Oliver Stone Memorial Foundation
Message no. 42
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 00:50:29 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Vernier
>>>>>[Bungle is surprisingly resourceful. Yes, Jason is less dead than
rumour would have the world believe, and has been most productively busy
in his apparent absence.

If this word had broken a month ago, it would have been a catastrophe.
As it is, it could even be amusing: certainly it doesn't seem likely to be of
enormous consequence.

I'm glad to hear you and Hikaru are both well, busy and - by the sound of
things - enjoying yourselves. Jason and I intend to take a vacation, but we
won't - shouldn't be - _too_ far out of comms.

You're still likely to find us on the evaluation team, when you come to sell
Valkyries to the UCAS <g>]<<<<<
-- Lilith <00:50:42/06-15-60>
Message no. 43
From: Logan Graves logan1@*****.intercom.net
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 20:52:49 -0400
>>>>>[Is it Lynch or his doppleganger? Only time will tell.

So who's next, the Breathstealer, himself? Ha! Maybe hell's tired of the way
he's running things now. _That'd_ definitely ruin a few folks days--and number
them, too!]<<<<<
-- Ricochet Rita <23:43:26/06-14-60>
Message no. 44
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 14:28:24 -0500 (CDT)
>>>>>[My my my, the Swiss Family Lynch has only been undead for a little
while and they already miss us. We're touched, really. We're even more
touched that you didn't even bother notice Killer's obituary in last
month's Ultra Dangerous People Quarterly. Of course, you were probably
much too busy staging yet another fake PR incident with black clad feds
storming in to save the day and nuke the oh so scary bug menace to bother
to keep up on what's happening in the real world.

Come on, people, if you're trying to manipulate the public into adoring
you, at least do something interesting. Nukes haven't been sexy since we
blew up Maxim.

Oh, and be a dear, lose the skin tight black nomex bodysuit. It's so '56.
And you looked bad in it then, too.

Love and Kisses,]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <14:12:42/06-15-60>
Message no. 45
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 14:51:46 -0500 (CDT)
*****NOT TO: NewzJunkie
>>>>>[Silly script kiddie, we wouldn't dare cut in on your candy turf.
We're sooo concerned about some little delinquent who doesn't even know a
staged-Lynch-fakes-another-death-media-blitz when he see one.

I bet the little whiner can't even read this without someone forwarding it
to him.

We _were_ going to tell everyone just where short-dark-and-swarthy's been
hiding all this time, but if you can't be nice, we won't. Nyeh.]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <14:35:39/06-15-60 PDT>
Message no. 46
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 21:52:00 +0100
>>>>>[Oh, great, Jen and Gabe are arguing with themselves again...

Life really _is_ back to normal if those two wilsons are back.

Mind you - I should have guessed, just from the smell of rotting
tuna.]<<<<<
-- The Mighty Quinn <21:51:35/06-15-60>
Message no. 47
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 21:53:08 +0100
>>>>>[Who's "short, dark and swarthy"?]<<<<<
-- Bungle <21:53:47/06-15-60>
Message no. 48
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:06:32 -0500 (CDT)
>>>>>[ '[Who's "short, dark and swarthy"?]' -- Bungle

My, aren't you defensive. No, not you. You're more of a 'squat and
squalid' type. We were, of course, refering to the Big Papa Daddy of the
Lynch Whack-A-Mole clan.

Oops, did we say mole? Nevermind that, you'll never find her
anyway.]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <16:03:47/06-16-60>
Message no. 49
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:10:33 -0500 (CDT)
>>>>>[Drek. Thanks Quinn. We did forget to toss out Killer's last meal.

Of course, that still doesn't explain the smell on your end.

We blame Lynch.]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <16:09:35/06-15-60>
Message no. 50
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 22:26:35 +0100
>>>>>[Uh, Jen and Gabe, I wouldn't want to rain on your parade, but
Lynch - at least the one for public release - was six-two and pale as a
ghost.

+++++include picture: JRWLynch25.jpg
+++++include picture: Jason_Lynch_SIGA.jpg
+++++include picture: Lynch_Justy43.jpg
+++++include picture: JRWL45.gif

'Short, dark and swarthy'? Shyeah, right...

I mean, you guys already have a rep for cluelessness, you don't want to
make _that_ sort of simple basic mistake...]<<<<<
-- Bungle <22:26:45/06-15-60>
Message no. 51
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:39:22 -0500 (CDT)
>>>>>[Uh, Bungle? Lynch doesn't wear Night Ninja[tm] black bodywear,
either. Read between the lines...

...

...

No, no hope of that, around these parts. We're trying to bait him, and
you're getting in the way. Go buy some candy or some nudie pics or
something, and leave us grownups alone.

+++++Credit upload: .5nY

Now go away.]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <16:38:42/06-15-60>
Message no. 52
From: Frank Pelletier (Trinity) fpelletier@******.usherb.ca
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 18:48:20 -0400
>>>>>[No...

Mrs. Lynch is not what she seemed to be. Cyan never missed anyone from
that distance. I guess our dear agent has a few tricks up her sleeves for
any would-be assasin.

Then again, that applies to the Old Wolf himself. An exploding plane.
I'd pay to know how he got out of that one.]<<<<<
-- Spiral <18:40:43/06-15-60 EST>

*****Private: Major L R W Lynch
>>>>>[It's been a while.

We just found some interresting footage. A 30-year old computer, of all
things. I thought you had more class. But the ends justifies the means,
and I will not argue with you over his death. We respect what you did, even
though it might be a while before we accept it. C'est la vie, neh? I was
never as emotional as the others.

One last thing, before you resume your Oh-so-important duty to the American
people. You left Blue alone. I am pleased to see that. I hope it says
that way.

Should that change, however...]<<<<<
-- Spiral <18:42:43/06-15-60 EST>
Message no. 53
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 23:49:15 +0100
>>>>>[Baiting? Yeah, you two are masters at that, aren't
you...]<<<<<
-- The Mighty Quinn <23:46:26/06016-60>
Message no. 54
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 00:06:05 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Spiral
>>>>>[The ends justify the means? Spiral, you have no idea what you're
talking about, or what part Cyan played in the game. Don't be asinine.


And a word of warning. Unless Blue turns serial killer, we won't touch her.
But Haze had many more enemies than us: and some of them may not be
content that the Breathstealer died by someone else's hand.]<<<<<
-- Lilith <00:05:45/06-16-60>
Message no. 55
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 23:53:06 +0100
>>>>>[Keep your money, kids, you'll need it to go buy a clue with. I hear
there's a Buy-One-Get-One-Free Special at Kwik-Mart.

I read the analysis on you. Couple of schoolkids with some interesting
fetishes... amusing but insignificant.

Just admit you don't know drek, and leave it at that, okay? Some of us
have _work_ to do round here...]<<<<<
-- Bungle <23:52:45/06-16-60>
Message no. 56
From: Charles McKenzie kilroy@**.wisc.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 19:14:08 -0500 (CDT)
>>>>>[Takes one to know one.

At least we _Have_ a sex life, Miss High Lord Baroness of Living All Alone
In A Big Cold Drafty Castle.

Maybe if you clear up that fish smell, you won't be quite so lonely.

Did we just say that? We're so catty sometimes. No, not like that,
Lilly dear.

Speaking of which, say 'Hi' to our new baby.

+++++include picture: Kalico_cat_with_bow.sgvm

We're calling her Killer, just so all our fans don't get confused.

Toodles,]<<<<<
-- Jen & Gabe <17:06:26/06-16-60>
Message no. 57
From: Mach mach@****.caltech.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 17:37:32 -0700
>>>>>[So what have we learned here today, folx?

1) Jen and Gabe are still easier to bait than kittens with a feather
dangled in front of them.

2) Just because your a prof, you too can be a complete nutcase. Well,
that he is--or at least seems to be--connected with the Oliver Stone
Memorial Foundation for Advanced Conspiratorial Theory may have more
than a little to do with this....

3) Disinformation breeds speculation breeds ejaculation (vocal or, well
otherwise for those Master's of Baiting Jen and Gabe...).

Oh and this one's for Bungle: 4) Never eat a Kwik-Mart burger. Good
God, I've eaten dogfood that tasted better than that (nyah nyah, my
folks had a dog when I was little so you can shove the jokes in some
uncomfortable orifice). Forget myco or soy...those buggers are like
mildly disinfected protein extracted from sewage. Took a liter of Jukie
(tm) to wash the taste out of my mouth. I hadn't wretched so hard since
they test-marketed the VunderBar here in the States.

Bleagh.]<<<<<
-- NewzJunkie <17:37:49/06-15-60 PDT>
Message no. 58
From: Mach mach@****.caltech.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 19:31:23 -0700
*****PRIVATE: Lilith
>>>>>[Wow, and congratulations, and we're both really happy for you
guys.

So, we're not exactly close enough to be invited to your guy's house on
holidays, but Jason's plane going down hit pretty hard. Although, I
guess Hikaru took it especially hard, she didn't want to talk about it,
and all I could get her to tell me about it was that she'd always
figured she'd go out some day like that. I guess having a friend go out
that way made it seem more real than she wanted to deal with. It's
going to take a little getting used to, knowing he's alive again, but I
mean, you guys have "saving the world" as part of your job description,
so I guess a little miracle from time to time is par for the course.
Okay...so I'll be honest, maybe Hikaru wasn't as ecstatic about it as I
thought she would be. She can be hard to read sometimes.... So that's
why I'm writing and not her, but I know she is really happy for you
both, she's just got a lot on her mind and that sort of thing.

I hope you have a good time on your vacation, and that you guys can have
some real peace and quiet for a while. No guns blazing, bombs blasting,
etc. should be a good change, ne? We're stuck up the Well for another
week or so, depending on how the test-flights go, so I don't know when/
if we'll get a chance to socialize. It's not been too hard getting the
N-nets to get used to working with a gun-slug like the Helios, or the
pilots, but well, when has a test-program never run into a glitch or
gremlin here or there? And well, the variable-set for aero_space_
operations vs. aero operations is sufficently different to be annoying,
but I'll not bore you with that. I must say I'm really starting to look
forward to that orbital flight home...although Hikaru's going to be
getting down the "hard way." No more of what they euphamistically call
"resource management" and I call not being able to take a decent shower.
Can't mess up the air-scrubbers with something like a little
fragrance.... Mentioning of the word "bath" sends the life-support
personnel into conniptions, even though it is at least theoretically
possible in the G'd sections. Bet they wouldn't put up with this sort
of thing on Z-O, but then this is a "research facility" and doesn't have
a fraction of Z-O's budget.

Uh-oh...Mgmnt. 'Scuse me while I put on my "Happy Worker" face while he
floats by and I continue to deck some email...not like he'd know I was
doing that or reprogramming the N-nets to attack the station at their
earliest convenience or was DLing the latest Aviation Leak--I mean
Week...well maybe the latter because I'd be drooling. You know how
turbines and rotors can get a girl all hot and bothered. You may have
missed it, but a month back or so they profiled the Valkyries 'cause the
CAS is buying them. They said about the same thing as everybody else:
flies great, neural-net co-pilots weird us out, you want to put WHAT?
WHERE? (the Pilot Augmentation System (tm)), too expensive, but overall,
a positive review. The pictures are the best part of the article. The
worst part--I still can't believe it, but if they say it, it's true--the
CAS wants to rename them for their Air Force. Although I guess we can't
really stop them. I think it's just that they think the name for the
SEAD variant, Vidar is goofy. Come on, Norse God of Silence and
Revenge, slayer of the Fenris wolf, what could be better? Well, at
least it's better than Huginn or Muninn. Dunno when Ares is going to be
pitching a DEM/EVAL with the UCAS, I figure something is already in the
works, but the vips aren't telling us too much these days.

Anyway...yeah. Glad to hear Jason is back among the living. We'll see
about hooking up for a hello some time after we're back on Terra.]<<<<<
-- Vernier <19:28:34/06-15-60 PDT>
Message no. 59
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 17:32:26 +0100
>>>>>[Jenna, Gabriel, for it to be a "sex life" then there have
to be at
least _two_ people involved... (three's more fun IMO, but never mind that
right now).

Just a word to the wise... which means it's wasted on you, I know.]<<<<<
-- The Mighty Quinn <17:32:45/06-16-60>
Message no. 60
From: Brion David Wauters bdw8@****.ucc.nau.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 11:09:33 -0700 (MST)
***** PRIVATE: Lilith
>>>>>[I'm not trying to open old wounds, but I just saw some fairly decent
indications that Lynch is among the living. If its true, congradulations
& how the hell did he manage that (last time I checked, being in a plane
when it fireballs was universally fatal)? If its not ture, I thought you
would want to know that some fragger is counterfiting your husband.]<<<<<
-- Irish <11:08:40/06-16-60>
Message no. 61
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 22:54:08 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Irish
>>>>>[Hiya, Irish.

No, I'm not dead. Haven't been so close very often, though. I wouldn't
recommend trying to copy the feat.

How did I survive? As far as I can tell, from looking at Lilith's report (my
own recording gear was SOL after the little contretemps), my aircraft got
speared by a UIM-199C Kingfisher, fired under reversionary optical
guidance. I'd already dodged one, which set me up perfectly for the
second: whoever was firing them knew _exactly_ what they were doing.
Must have been a sellout job by Von Drexler, the shooter was perfectly
placed.

The missile hit dead centre, between the engines and right in the #3 fuel
tank, and blew the aircraft apart. The fuel in #3 and #2 stopped the
shrapnel, plus it absorbed a fair bit of the shockwave (hydrostatic shock
blew most of the airframe apart at the seams, though). The detached
nose section (including the cockpit, with me inside) was still fairly intact
so the flame front from the fuel-fed fire just washed over it, scorched it,
didn't do much damage. So far I'm still not doing too badly.


Of course, the nose section - bereft of wings, engines, and anything
except mass and a roughly aerodynamic shape - then hit the Atlantic at
about three hundred miles an hour. Good as the crash dynamics of the
K71 seat are, they're only so good... the doctors later counted eleven
fractured bones (and those are _laced_ bones) plus I'd dislocated both
shoulders and collected assorted internal injuries from the two impacts
(missile hits me, I hit the water).

And at that point, most people would have drowned, unconscious,
bleeding, still strapped into the seat. Unless they had one of those handy
implanted air tanks. Which I do, and which saved my life.



I came to after, I don't know, fifteen minutes maybe, because it was
_cold_ and wet and miserable and my air was running out, managed to
fire the ejection seat, and because it's good Russian kit it didn't deploy the
parachutes (I'd most likely have died, drowned tangled in those miles of
nylon) and just let me float to the surface. Even inflated my life jacket
for me when I got there. I managed to fire the dye markers myself, but I
don't remember doing it.


And there I was, floating painfully along, when the helicopter from the
UCASS _Sandstro"m_ found me. Go directly to Intensive Care, do not pass
Go, do not collect two hundred nuyen.


Where did I go next? Well, SIGA had just picked up a mindwiped LCdr
Mitchell in the UCAS Sector of Denver, where Aztlan had staged a little
theatrical act to give us a captured, personality-programmed man they'd
caught a few months before. He needed serious hospital time to put back
together. So did I. Wasn't the switch so _obvious_ in retrospect?


It worked. The good guys won. And now I'm on vacation.]<<<<<
-- Lynch <22:50:43/06-16-60>
Message no. 62
From: Brion David Wauters bdw8@****.ucc.nau.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 11:04:18 -0700 (MST)
***** PRIVATE: Lynch
>>>>>[So, your plane _didn't_ fireball, it just looked that way. Teaches
me not to belevive what I see on the news.

Implanted air tank? I'll have to look into one of those.

Well, welcome back & congradulations! Are you going to be staging a
come-back, or just
lurking behind the scenes? Or is that classified?

If these "miraculous escapes" keep up, who knows what'l show up? I better
double check the mortuary records and make sure Dante really _is_ dead
(the fragger always did seem to have something up his sleeve).]<<<<<
--Irish <11:03:24/06-18-60>
Message no. 63
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 23:33:55 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Irish
>>>>>[Oh, hell, that was a _beautiful_ fireball, Irish. If I'd been hit
like
that over land they'd have been picking pieces of me up with a shovel.

One reason I'm getting out of the business for a while. You can't be that
lucky too often.


I think I'd better stay dead for a while. Even the mutters so far are
stirring more reaction than I like. Remember, the Children of Thunda
killed a couple of _thousand_ people trying to get me to stick my head in
their trap (not that doing so would have helped...) and I don't want any
repeats.

Friends I trust - like you - are one thing. The world at large thinks I'm
dead, and right now I see no reason to disillusion them.

You keeping okay? The board's been quiet a while, I was concerned - a lot
of people I like haven't been saying much. Did I miss anything
important?]<<<<<
-- Lynch <23:33:49/06-18-60>
Message no. 64
From: Jhary-a-Conel jhary-a-conel@***.de
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999 16:55:19 +0200
>>>>>[ Problem is, Jen, Gabe, you made a fool of yourselves with your
messages to this forum. Were you as pro as you claim to be, you had
kept a low profile here, too. Instead, any time you appear you act light a
verbal flare, drawing all attention to...

...

Hm, there's a thought. But as long as we just have your arrogant, self-
centered blanter, and not even a hint you do more then just babbling, oh so
please excuse us for doubting.

As for the other thing: Nope, can't have been Lynch. Impossible. As
unfortunate as it is, Lynch is dead. Apart from the proof, that obviously
was good enough to convince someone to pay /lots/ of money, I know
someone who said he felt him die on April the 25th, 2059. As this is
something to do with magic, I can't verify it, but trust the source.

What has been going on there in Aztlan I can't say, or even guess, maybe
it was some hint for the Azzies, "Look, we can get your enemy right back"
or something. I just find it disturbingly unfair for Lynch's wife and child, and
would _really_ like to teach the one responsible for this some lectures in
ethics. ]<<<<<
-- Orion <07:54:01/06-20-60>
Message no. 65
From: Brion David Wauters bdw8@****.ucc.nau.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 11:04:29 -0700 (MST)
*****PRIVATE: Lynch
>>>>>[Only a shovel? Last time I saw a plane fireball, they used a
sponge.

Your right, those CoT kooks might resurface if they heard you where back,
and I think we can all live without that. Not to mention all the
conspiracy theorists (I thought _I_ was parinoid).

Let's see...Haze bought his farm, we had a bug problem, Renraku has sealed
itself off from the rest of the world, can't think of much else. It
_has_ been rather quite for the past few months, hasn't it?]<<<<<

-- Irish <11:04:50/06-22-60>
Message no. 66
From: Brion David Wauters bdw8@****.ucc.nau.edu
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 11:09:09 -0700 (MST)
>>>>>[Hmm, teaching the Azzies...if this involves great amounts of bodily
injury, I like to volinter to help, Orion.]<<<<<

-- Irish <11:08:30/06-22-60>
Message no. 67
From: Jhary-a-Conel jhary-a-conel@***.de
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 23:09:40 +0200
>>>>>[ Would include drastic reorganisation of some body parts, yes.
But I guess we have no chance to find the responsible person(s) - first of
all, this *is* Azzie-Land, second, this smells like spook-secret-service-
stuff, third, I guess we would have to stand in line for our turn if that
paydata was available...

Doesn't mean I am not looking, though. ]<<<<<
-- Orion <14:07:21/06-22-60>

>>>>>[ And *not* just the technomancer is looking... ]<<<<<
-- Canis <14:09:23/06-22-60>

*****PRIVATE: Canis
>>>>>[ Drek, I told you not to post while I am not there to cover the
datatracks! ]<<<<<
-- Orion <14:09:29/06-22-60>
Message no. 68
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 23:18:29 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Orion
>>>>>[Spook-secret-service stuff? You rang, m'lord?

We might be able to help, if you like. Well, 'we' is a misnomer. I'm taking
a break from field work, but we still have some good people around both
for intel work and for more... direct action.

If we can help you, let us know.



By the way, whoever says they felt Jason die... is wrong.]<<<<<
-- Lilith <23:18:57/06-22-60>
Message no. 69
From: Jhary-a-Conel jhary-a-conel@***.de
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 11:49:35 +0200
***** PRIVATE: Lilith
>>>>>[ Well... the fact that, and how you answered, in fact already
cleared the question. We assume ... assumed some political move to
have someone imitate your husband in Aztlan. Now, when you say "the
rumours of his demise are greatly exaggerated", ... well ... there is no
politican who's butt needs kicked. Well, not for this incident, at least.

I am really glad to hear the news, and guess its strictly confidential? We'll
keep it to us... especially as there are still some doubts. Well.. he'll tear
my head right off if he finds out, but somehow I feel you have the right to
see this.

+++++begin include: SecCam023.mov
"Nope." The security camera covers a small, untidy room. Lots of crates -
most of them in military green - are stacked at the walls, and several rifles
are lying around, used, but well maintained by the looks.

"No way, it is simply not possible." A group of people, loosley gathered
around a table, most of them smoking. The man speaking, in his early
thirties, although his black hair and beard already show strains of grey,
stares at the group through pale black cybereyes. A large scar crosses
his face, and the place where his left eye once was. "See? I *did* feel his
life vanishing. You all know we were involved in this C-o-T-shit at the time.
And I *felt* how he died..."

"Uh, sure, but... see... we have a picture - " The tall elf is interrupted.
"Orion, you did detect the picture must have been tampered with. It is
fake!"

"Well, yeah. The one I got out of Aztlan, yeah. But - it was of much better
quality then Bungle's, and I didn't find traces of tampering on his copy. My
guess is someone uploaded the new picture to make people think Bungle
falsified it..." The elf points with the hilt of a tender blade, a katana, the
blade following his arm, to illustrate his argument. His eyes are hidden by
dark glasses, but the tatoo'ed black flashes are clearly visible in his face,
as is his tiredness.

"But you are not a graphics expert. Bungle for sure is!" Slight desperation
dwells within Canis' voice.

"But," the bulky man in field camouflage who's just cleaning a disassmbled
hunting rifle draws the attention, "_but_ we get this mail from Md Lynch,
Canis. Can't see a reason why she'd lie to us?"

"Don't know. Poitical reasons? Maybe it's from someone else? Orion said
he can't verify adresses from such secure areas..."
+++++end include: SecCam023.mov

This continued a long time. He's adamant.

See, the problem is, he is _sure_ your husband dies. Don't get me wrong -
Canis likes him, and for sure would be glad to see him alive - but so far he
can't get his mind on even the theoretical possibility. Sometimes these
magic-users are strange. Canis didn't get used to my new "looks" when I
had a new liver implanted after some beast decided mine could be a nice
snack on our last mission, and it took him a few weeks.

Don't know. Well, our best wishes and greetings to your husband, and to
Stephanie (_and_ George, of course :-), and thanks a lot for your mail.
]<<<<<
-- Orion <02:47:49/06-25-60>
Message no. 70
From: Paul J. Adam Shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Hot News! Hot News!
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 21:20:23 +0100
*****PRIVATE: Orion
>>>>>[Yes, I'm alive. No, I'm not going public with that.

Just for once, Aztlan and the UCAS found someone we _both_ really
hated. We went in, close and dirty, kicked his butt 'till it bled, came
home. Aztlan are pretty upset about that little leak from Cordovez's
hometown paper, they've covered their tracks.

Pity about Raoul, too. He was a good guy. We'd been enemies a while, but
he was a professional - there was a bigger threat to Aztlan than Lilith and
I, so he dropped all the rivalry and co-operated fully with us and died
fighting by our side. Can't ever ask more than that.

I guess the truce between us and Aztlan (family, I mean) will last as long
as I stay out of sight and out of the field. Which suits me fine. I did my
part and now I'm due some leave. Between Aztlan and the UCAS... we're
already back to being enemies. Oh, well.

It's definitely best for all concerned if I remain publicly dead for a while.
The main core of the Children of Thunda - the brains of the outfit - were
destroyed, but I don't want anyone gunning for me or killing civilians to
get me into the open. Can't handle that any more. I'm too old for these
games.

You guys... are part of the exceptions to that rule. If Canis ever changes
his mind, let him know. You're good people to know.


If you need backup, help, assistance, whatever, you know you have
friends.]<<<<<
-- Lynch <21:20:46/6-26-60>

Further Reading

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