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Message no. 1
From: "Michael R. Goldberg" <mrgoldbe@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject: Mirror
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 00:05:53 -0500
>>>>>[ Mitchell --

As much as it pains me to state the obvious, I think in your case, I
should do it anyway.

Look in the fragging mirror, you drek-headed Yank!

Your best friend just got toasted. Someone you've campaigned with for
years on end. You'd trust his judgement to then ends of the earth and
then some, and now in addition to the fact that he was just rudely
removed from your world prematurely, you got some snot faced punk
insulting the memory of him.

Amazingly within hours, that same punk apologies for the words said at
the heat of the moment. Would you believe that apology was sincere if
it was from one of your peers? Would you believe it if it was from a
"dirty" shadowrunner?

Better still, would you accept the apology and forgive the mistake?

I don't think you would. I _know_ I wouldn't. I would never forgive
that insult. I would go out of my way to pay back for that insult!
(No matter how insanely horrible the odds are.)

And on this one, I know I'm not alone.

You want to apologize to Marathon for words of that magnitude said in
the heat of the moment? Great. Go do it in person, unarmed, and not
babysat or forced by your co-workers, Mr. Seal-pup. The only way that
apology could ever be accepted would be to convince the wronged parties
that you are sincere in your apology.

Frankly, I don't think anyone here believes that you are _sorry_ for
your words, unless it happens to jeapordized your ability to do
anything you want while hiding behind a fragging badge. ]<<<<<
-- Ratspeak <05:53:08/05-JUN-59>
Message no. 2
From: "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 17:42:05 +0100
>>>>>[My, how perceptive, Ratspeak.

The good lieutenant-colonel will, I hope, be less vocal in future.]<<<<<
-- Lilith <17:41:34/06-05-59>
Message no. 3
From: Avenger <Avenger@*******.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 01:28:16 +0100
>>>>>[Yeah! That's tellin' 'em Ratty. Go at it man. Damn shame that
some scag can hide behind his badge and pretend sincerity. Oh it's so
easy to say sorry in an electronic communication, but it don't mean
shit. Hey, I'm sorry Lynch died.

But then again maybe not. Who knows.]<<<<<
-- Twitch <01:27:33/06-05-59>
Message no. 4
From: "Michael R. Goldberg" <mrgoldbe@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 00:30:39 -0500
>>>>>[ Sad. So utterly sad.

A rodent stating the obvious. A feline responds. Twitch adds his
views into the melting pot:

"This it is and nothing more."

What would any of us be without society? Does it matter whether we
choose to live apart from it because we cannot perceive our place
within, or within it because we cannot perceive our place without? Who
amoung us has the right to be sole judge, jury, and executioner over
what one has chosen (willingly or not) for their path?

Ratspeak? Twitch? Mitchell? Children of Thunda?

"Darkness there and nothing more."

I think there are a lot worse things than Mitchell's misguided crusade
against the malcontents -- than Ratspeak's sermons -- than Twitch's
narrow view of how the world should be. Then again, I think. I look.
I perceive. I may be the Fool, but I'm not blind, deaf, and dumb. I
leave that to others, who have deemed themselves better suited to those
tasks.

I notice that there is plenty of work out there for all. Perhaps, you
should give up arguing who is right and wrong, and get to fragging
work.

"Merely this and nothing more."

-- Your ever present fool. ]<<<<<
-- Jester <06:19:35/06-JUN-59>
Message no. 5
From: BigDaddy <bigdaddy@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 02:05:38 -0400
>>>>[Ya know, I think Jester was right. Maybe all this talk is getting us
nowhere. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...... I dunno, day is dawning, rush hour just begone,
streets are just recovering from last nites game. <sigh> Life is way to short my
friends, way to short to be arguing over this. It's fun and it gets the blood boiling (or
adrenal pump take your poison), but what is said and done. Mitchell and I will never see
eye-to-eye. Hell i don't even know if he's got real ones anymore! But that's beside the
point. We both lost pals in the CZ in one form or the other. Will it bring them back? Hell
no. So what's we say Mitchy we stop bickering over who won that battle
eh?]<<<<<
--BigDaddy<05:12:39/06-06-59>
Message no. 6
From: Avenger <Avenger@*******.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 12:49:32 +0100
>>>>>[I ain't got a narrow view of the world. There's nothin' wrong
with my eyes. I got the best vision Nikon can supply. I don't think
it's right that some jumped up scag can bounce around an' lecture
everyone else on his own goddamn faults though. Mitchell's just as much
scum as those he's flingin' insults at. He's just got a badge, that's
all. He's a legal killer. What's the damn difference?]<<<<<
-- Twitch <12:49:33/06-06-59>
Message no. 7
From: Avenger <Avenger@*******.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 12:46:09 +0100
>>>>>[Mitchell will never stop arguing while he feels he is justified,
and he argues the point of the pseudo righteous. The silly little man
actually feels that he is the one who is right and all others are wrong.
While someone lives under such a delusion there is no hope of ever
helping them to see the light. Then there are those who would educate
people like him, to help them understand that even criminals and
illegals can be decent people as well, but in the mind of the Mitchell's
of this world if these people were decent and honest, honourable and
trustworthy, they would have registered themselves with the powers that
be, submitted themselves to the administration of the most corrupt
regime this world has ever seen, they would have become respectable
registered citizens and would hold down decent honest jobs, not the
unpredictable, violent and lawless employment so prevalent in the
shadows of the streets of the metroplexes. No BigD Mitchell will not
agree with you, you are right in that, and in his strange twisted and
indecipherable manner, Jester is also right. Mitchell in his simplistic
and deluded vision of right and wrong, a black and white vision more
suited to that of a five year old is also right. There is nothing for
anyone to be proud of. None of us, not the streets, not the shadows not
the godlings in law enforcement can walk with our heads high. Why? It
has nothing to do with pride or self confidence. I expect most people
to have pride in what they do, especially if they do it well. No the
reason none of us can hold our heads high is because we are the very
thing we all hate. We - all of us, including Mitchell and his pussy cat
partner, are all slaves of the suits. We are all here only at the beck
and call of the corporations, whether we carry a badge or a shadow
matters not. We are corruption. We are the very thing we claim to
oppose. We are the disease that is destroying society and propagating
the corruption of the cities. All of us. None have the right to shout
loudly about honesty, none may call honour to their fold. All are
corrupt, all are part of the greater evil. Argument is one way of
railing against the inevitable. Why do people rise to the bait laid by
Mitchell? Because his words strike home to a part of our souls that few
of us wish to admit exists. Why does Mitchell shout so loudly against
those of the shadows, people he brands as scum? Because he sees himself
in us. We are no more and no less than a mirror image of him. The only
thing that separates us is his badge. That is his only defence against
what he sees as himself. A piece of bronze. What defence is
that?]<<<<<
-- Doofus <12:45:33/06-06-59>
Message no. 8
From: "Frank Pelletier (Trinity)" <jeanpell@****.QC.CA>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 12:20:09 -0400
>>>>>[There's no difference, Twitch. None at all. But he feels strangely
justified that a Constitution he holds so dear, and the weak notion of
"Public safety", gives him the absolute right of life and death over those
who would'nt fit into the mold, those who wouldn't follow rank, and meld
into the faceless masses.

Conformity, that's all that law enforcement wants to do. They don't care
about the safety and relative well-being of the drones, they just want
everyone to look, feel, think the same. By all means necessary.

That's why he's hunting us. We're not the same as those lambs, those who
see sleep as an interlude between work shifts. He tries to stiffle us.
Threats and actions against own's own opens up your eyes, you mind. I see
the world for the heartless bitch it is now. And if someone deserves mercy,
it's not him, nor the so-called "innocents".

That's why, if he ever gets in my way, he will die. Like the rest.]<<<<<
-- Haze <12:09:42/06-06-59>
Message no. 9
From: Avenger <Avenger@*******.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 18:32:03 +0100
>>>>>[Well I ain't no sheep, nor no drone neither, an' if the wondrous
Mitchell wantsta hunt me, I wish him luck. Others have tried and failed.
Fuck him, and others like him.]<<<<<
-- Twitch <18:31:22/06-06-59>
Message no. 10
From: Wraith <wraith@************.COM>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 19:05:03 -0500
>>>>>[You keep talking like that Doofus and people will start to
wonder...as
one recently thrust into this lovely world of ours, I have to ask, was Lynch
like this when he first appeared on scene? Or did he have some sort of
sense? And WHY is Mitchell here? A simple replacement for Jason Lynch?
Surely, from what I've read and heard, SIGA could do better. I get the
impression that Mitchell doesn't like us and would rather associate with
others...why him? Surely SIGA had other in-house operatives? Why not bump
one of them up? Where did Mitchell come from? He's obviously has had some
training, where from, and why isn't he still there?

Questions, and more questions, very little answers...perhaps the Matrix will
help me?]<<<<<
-- Black Fire <01:03:00/06-07-59
Message no. 11
From: "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 18:19:35 +0100
>>>>>[Oh, yeah, Haze, like you did such a number on Lynch, right? I
mean, it's only since he's dead that you've crawled out of the hole he
chased you into?

I know, I know, Haze. Slaughtering unarmed civilians, raping little
girls, is all just part of your individuality, and it's so unfair of me
to want to stop you.

Come try and kill me. See what happens. Lynch was too damn soft with you
scum.

Who the fuck do you think deserves 'mercy', Haze? You?]<<<<<
-- Mitchell <18:18:36/06-07-59>
Message no. 12
From: "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 18:28:44 +0100
>>>>>[Hey, Black Fire, you only have to ask, you know. It's not like
much of this is hard to find out anyway...

No, Lynch wasn't like me, he was a runner before he was a Fed. Explains
why he was so lax dealing with you guys.

Why am I here? SIGA needed field people, even before Lynch was killed.
When he died, they needed people even more. I was available, I got
tapped for it. I don't like it much but it was that or eighteen months
at Keflavik. You have any idea how boring Iceland is?

Where did I come from? Well, in the beginning God took some dust... and
eventually I was born, joined the Navy, graduated from Annapolis, and
passed BUD/S. Worked with Team Eleven in the Fleet and then in Chicago,
did some overseas work, and then got shanghaied into SIGA.

Any other questions?]<<<<<
-- Mitchell <18:28:51/06-07-59>
Message no. 13
From: Avenger <Avenger@*******.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 22:50:28 +0100
>>>>>[Start to wonder about what Black Fire? That I might actually be
sane? Nah...]<<<<<
-- Doofus <22:50:31/05-07-59>
Message no. 14
From: Wraith <wraith@************.COM>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 19:51:26 -0500
>>>>>[Interesting...I wouldn't have thought you would have left your SEAL
team voluntarily...and it does seem (from what you said) that you were no
longer going to be working with the SEALs, since you stated it was SIGA or
Iceland...so why the change in professions? Its obvious that you still have
the abilities, as seen by your recent forays into our little world...Make a
pass at an Admiral's daughter or something? Or did you kill the wrong
person? Why are YOU here? Inquiring minds want to know...]<<<<<
-- Black Fire <01:50:43/06-08-59>
Message no. 15
From: "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 21:49:47 +0100
>>>>>[Black Wraith - I was TDY'd, temporary-duty assigned, from Team
Eleven to Special Operations Command. When that assignment came to an
unscheduled and lively end, there were no vacant active-duty spots in
Team Eleven for a lieutenant-commander: the position I was slated to
fill won't be open for nearly a year.

So, there was a problem of where to put me. Couldn't stay in SOCOM,
didn't want to anyway, that place leaks like a sieve and people die as a
result. I would have gone back to bughunting, but that's downsizing fast
and they aren't recruiting. Mistake, if you ask me, but nobody did.

A year with SIGA was suggested, I took a look and said 'no thanks'.

I don't have the required personality traits to be an instructor, you
don't use SEALs for desk jobs or recruitment, the FBI Projects are gone,
and there aren't any vacant Fleet billets for a solo O5 with no
shiphandling skills. If I could fly helicopters I'd have got a job with
the Ghostriders, but I can't and I'm too old to learn, or so I'm told.

That didn't leave much. About the best other job on offer was an
exchange spot with the Air Farce, commanding the security detachment and
the Marine company at Keflavik in Iceland for a year. Trouble is, while
the troops there are good, without an OpFor you can't get too much
realistic training in... and Iceland is possibly the most boring place
on Earth.

So, I reconsidered and I'm TDY to SIGA for a year, then I'm back with
Team Eleven. And I'm starting to enjoy this more than I thought I would.
Plenty of operations, and sensible rules of engagement. Actually feels
like I'm making a difference.

Clear enough?]<<<<<
-- Mitchell <21:49:54/06-08-59>
Message no. 16
From: Wraith <wraith@************.COM>
Subject: Re: Mirror
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 21:36:54 -0500
>>>>>[Interesting...perhaps I will nose around and see exactly what I can
come up with, Mitchell. Good enough answer for now, although I still need
some more information so I can make my decision...]<<<<<
-- Black Fire <03:28:56/06-09-59>

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Mirror, you may also be interested in:

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These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!