From:	Robert Hayden <rahayden@*****.WEEG.UIOWA.EDU>
Subject:	The Underground: Volume 1, Number 2
Date:	Fri, 6 Nov 92 05:47:55 CET

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The Underground

Volume 1, Number 2 November 6, 2053
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The Magazine for Those on the Edge

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Aquarius Hits Trouble
By - Dave Clements
clements@***.ox.ac.uk

(Seattle) -- The Aquarius Corporation, a magical research and
development company, today denied reports that its recent contract
with the UCAS military was under threat. The contract, for newly
devised combat oriented magics, is said to be in trouble after
their top researcher, John Mason, went missing. Inside sources at
the company say that Mason had been acting strangely for two weeks
prior to his disappearance last Wednesday. A corporate extraction
operation has not been ruled out, nor has foul play by the
companies rivals. Quite what role Mason was to play in the new
contract is unclear, and Aquarius officials state that his loss
will not affect the work. UCAS military sources were unavailable
for comment.

Aquarius stock was down 15 points at the close of trading yesterday,
and there are runours of a take over bid.

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Ares Reports Break-in; Heavy Damage
By: Robert Hayden
AQ650@****.INS.CWRU.Edu

(Seattle) -- Officials for Ares, the successful weapons
manufacturer, reported this week that a group of persons broke
into their computer system, stealing several classified
documents. In addition, the deckers apparently left a series of
viruses behind that succeeded in destroying the data in several
key nodes. Among the data destroyed were the documents relating to
inquiries by the government into the quality control procedures used
by Ares.

When asked if the quality control data had been backed up to an
offline storage system, an Ares spokesperson replied, "The data
collected was brand new to the system and was still being
gathered, thus a backup was never performed."

Government officials have yet to comment, but sources close to the
investigators rumored that a 90-day injunction against Ares
sales might be sought. Ares would not comment on this rumor.

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Tommy "The Dragon" Harada Indicted in Mob Slayings
By - Vincent Esposito
VESPOSIT@****.sunysb.edu

(NEW YORK) -- Tommy Harada, known as "the dragon", was indicted
yesterday for the brutal slayings of four high ranking members of
the Scarpelli crime family. Authorities believe that Harada was
working onorders from the infamous Komatsu clan of the New York
Yakuza.

While Harada was convicted of four charges of murder, there was not
enough evidence to produce a verdict of guilty for conspiracy to
commit murder. The court was unable to prove any link between
Harada and the Komatsu clan.

Suprisingly, there has been no reaction by the Scarpelli family to
either the slayings or the trial. Metro Police Inc. has, however
decided to keep a close watch on the matter as a gang war could
easily break out between the two crime cartels.

Several members of the jury reported that they were glad that the
week long trial finally came to a decisive close. One jury member
in particular stated that he feared for his life when the verdict
was read. "I was petrified. Harada looked like he was staring
right at me with those blank chiba eyes. I can only describe the
look on his face as a barely contained murderous rage." Metro
Police has offered to assign a patrol car to watch over any jurors
who feel that their lives are threatened.

Harada will be moved tomorrow to the new maximum security wing of
the New York Correctional facility in Westchester. Metro has
assured the jurors that there is no chance of Harada escaping in
transit.

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Demos Saves Hostage Children, Humanis Seattle Offers Reward
By - Robert Hayden
AQ650@****.INS.CWRU.Edu

(Seattle) -- The largest Humanis organization in Seattle has posted
a 1,000,000 nuyen reward for the capture of Demos, Seattle's
newest vigilante. This comes on the heels of Demos (pronounced
DEE-mOse) making his first fully public appearence last Saturday.
In that incident, Demos managed to apprehend a gunman and his female
partner who were holding twelve children hostage.

The children were attending rehersal for a church sponsored play at
St. Benedicts when the two burst in, immediately killing the
three adult supervisors. They then spent the next four hours
in silence as police and frightened parents waited outside in the
drizzle.

As the standoff entered its fifth hour, the terrorists finally
contacted the police, stating that their actions were in revenge
for the Church failing to sanction their interracial marriage (one
was an elf, while the other was a troll). Further statements from
the terrorists stated that they had planted explosives and would
detonate them if they saw any indication that the police would
storm the church. They demanded only that their marriage receive
official sanction, otherwise they would kill one child every 30
minutes.

As police and church officals began earnest discussion, a hush fell
over the crowd as Demos, flying through the air, crashed headlong
through the stained-glass window of the church. As the crowd gasped
at the sight, there were sounds of gunfire from within the church
and then silence. A few moments passed followed by the sound of an
explosion.

Police immediately mobilized to rush the church, but before they
could make their entrance, the front doors flew open and the
twelve hostange children came running out followed closely by
Demos. The crowd was silent and unmoving, except for Sally Parker,
age 7, who ran up to Demos and said, "Thank you." He turned to the
young girl and said, "You are welcome." He then spread his wings and
lept back for the sky.

In the aftermath, police discovered the bodies of the terrorists.
One had been killed, the victim of a grenade blast while the other
was in critical condition and rushed under guard to City Hospital.
Eagerly, reporters questioned the children trying to learn the
details of what happened. We managed to snag Jeremy Caldwell, age
10, and get a statement from him.

"Man, it was intense. We were all grouped up by the alter and
these two jerks were trying to decide which one of us kids to kill
first and suddenly there was this crash and we all looked up to
see Demos coming through the window. The glass fell all over us.
Demos landed about ten feet from me, between [the terrorists] and us.
He then pulled out a gun and shot the troll in the chest, but the
gun didn't make any noise at all, sort of just a soft 'whoosh'
noise.

"Anyways, the elf lady jumped behind a pew and Demos shot at him
and missed. Then the lady leaped up with a machine gun in her hands
and started shooting at Demos. The bullets didn't even effect him,
they just kinda bounced off. Then Demos took aim and fired again,
this time hitting her in the neck.

"In all of this the first guy was struggling to his feet and he
pulled out a grenade, pressed the button on it and said to Demos
'Can you stop this you bastard spawning from Hell?' He then
started laughing really nasty.

"Well, Demos just turned back towards all of us kids and walked up
to us. Then he waved his hands and mumbled these really weird
words and this wall of light appeared between us and the guy with
the grenade. The grenade blew up but this light protected us and
nobody got hurt. Then Demos made the light go away and we all ran
outside. Man, it was so cool!"

Police have issued an APB for Demos but have assured the public
that they only wish to speak with the vigilante, and he is not
being implicated in any crimes. The mayor's office has issued a
public statement of thanks and the children of St. Benedicts hung a
30 foot banner outside of the church saying 'Thank You Demos'.

Meanwhile, Humanis Seattle, the largest and most politically
powerful of the Humanis groups in the area has issued a vandetta
against the vigilante. Barbara Schmidt, spokeswoman for the
organization stated, "Demos has showed a flagrant disregard for the
safety of people. It was only pure luck that prevented any harm
coming to the poor children of St. Benedicts and we hope that the
police will do everything in their power to apprehend this menace."

Police have not commented on HS's demands, but public sentiment was
best summed up by the words of young Jeremy Caldwell who said,
"This lady is fucked in the head!"

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New Developments in MagnaTech Bombing
By - Vincent Esposito
VESPOSIT@****.sunysb.edu

(New York) --Metro Police Inc. has provided some new information
into last week's bombing of the MagnaTech Buisness Headquarters in
downtown Manhattan. Metro investigators have managed to salvage
some of the building's computer system. Most of the system was
damaged beyond repair, but a few datastore and slave units were
recovered. Investigation of the duty logs of the door alarm slave
revealed that there was a break-in through the roof door, and that
several interior doors had been opened.

This was confirmed by the testimony of several wounded security
guards, who were on their way to assist in the apprehension of the
intruders, who had apparently engaged a security squad in the upper
floors when then bomb exploded. There were no descriptions of the
intruders since the guards who actually engaged them were all
killed in the explosion.

Metro also released a preliminary medical report. The report
stated analysis of tissue samples of the remains found scattered
through the site revealed at least three seperate tissue types that
were not from the security force. Although there has been no
attempt yet to identify the remains, Metro is confident that there
were three, possibly four intruders who attacked the MagnaTech
building that night.

*(later that day)*

This afternoon, Metro Police Inc. acted on information provided
by P. Johnson of MagnaTech R&D, and have made an arrest in
connection with last week's bombing. Johnson provided excerpts of
BBS postings where a decker using the handle "Dark Elf", and then
produced documents giving the identity of this "Dark Elf."

While BBS excerpts are not admissible in a court of law, there was
enough supporting information to lead to the arrest of one Wolfgang
von Helsing, an employee of Akaru Inc. Von Helsing denies any
connection with the incident, and also denies ever using the handle
"Dark Elf." Von Helsing claims that his Matrix alias is really
"DireWolf" but admits that it is not uncommon for deckers to use
more than one alias. A trial will be held once Metro has collected
sufficient evidence.

On a related note, there may be some credibility to von Helsing's
plea of innocence since BBS postings using the name "Dark Elf" have
been made since the arrest. Akaru Inc. also denies any interest in
MagnaTech and claims that von Helsing was not acting under a
directive from Akaru Inc. or any of it's subsidaries.


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This issue of The Underground is copyleft 1992 by Robert Hayden
[INTERNET: AQ650@****.INS.CWRU.Edu] and you are free to distribute
this document provided that the contents are not altered.

Shadowrun is a registered trademark of FASA, Inc.