| From: | James Cueno <CUENOJF@*********.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | News Feed |
| Date: | Fri, 15 Apr 1994 09:17:20 CDT |
Last night, officers from Lone Star Security and the Metroplex Guard
responded to reports of a bomb in a downtown apartment building.
I got a chance to talk to Mr. Carriole's widow about the initial
explosion:
"Harry, was just going up to talk to the new guy. He was a freak! a
freak I tell you! He was one of those filthy mercenaries that fought
in the Eurowar or something. He just had that stare. Like somebody
on chips or drugs or something. I tell ya, the Star isn't doing its
job anymore. Freaks like that should be taken off the street! Taken
off the street and flogged. And tortured. And executed. Dammit he
killed Harry. There was nothing left of him! Just blew up the
whole damn hallway. Couldn't have just bashed 'im over the 'ead.
Nooo! Had to deface the building too."
Lone Star officers were at the scene of the explosion within minutes
of the initial report, well before arrival of units from local fire
fighting contractors. The first officers into the building
were Patrol Officers Dent and Prefect. They were found dead in the
building's elevator. Speculative autopsy reports suggest that they
died of inhaled toxins, specifically, industrial grade insecticide,
similar to that used in Europe to control the parainsects that ravage
the countryside. Apparently at the same time, the mechanisms of the
elevator were melted down with thermite charges, so Officers Dent and
Prefect could not be reached until after the building had been
secured.
Another pair of, yet unnamed, officers tried to take the stairs to
the fifth floor apartment of the believed bomber: one Jacques St.
Jean. The same stairwell in which Mr. Corriole had died. These
officers were also killed by close explosions of fragmenting grenades.
I'm told that St. Jean was identified only by his fingerprints, but
these match those of a memeber of the CAS Marine Corps killed seven
years ago in a training accident in Norfolk Harbor, Va., CAS. No
body was ever recovered. Maybe the police will have to call this one
a Jean Doe?
By now, Lone Star officers began to call for back-up. First to
arrive on the scene were members of Lone Star's Astral Security
Division. Two mage detectives attempted to enter the building
astrally, though both were turned back by a high power astral ward on
the top floor.
A team from the Explosive Ordinace Disposal Division prepared to send
a disarmer drone to clear a path for Lone Star officers. The
first drone was able to clear several traps out of the stairwell
and approached the fourth floor. Here on the landing, the drone
crawled into a net trap which pulled the drone about a meter into the
air in a charged net. The drone was eventually recovered, though
only about 20% is salvageable due to the severe electrical shock it
received. I'm told that a charge of this nature would have killed
any human who stepped into the net. The second drone managed to work
its way to the fifth floor before being stopped.
I was shown trid taken by Lone Star officers after the building was
secured. I'll describe the trid to you as I watch it, as it has not
been released for public dissemination.
The trid begins with the camera man coming onto the fifth floor
landing. The wall to the camera's right is riddled with bullet
holes and drenched in the blood of officers who fell here. As he
rounds the corner he angles the camera down to the remains of
the second drone. It appears to be caught in some kind of steel trap.
A spring driven affair that I'm told was once used in the capture of
large predators. The trap has cleaved completely through the drone,
which has also sustained numerous hits. At the end of hall is the
remains of what looks to be some kind of tripod. A mass of
electronics atop the tripod enclose what appears to be an assault
rifle of some form.
As the cameraman walks down the hallway, both walls are filled with
bullet holes. The wall on the left, the wall of the apartment
protected by the magical barrier, has several large holes
punched through it. I'm told those were made by grenades launched
though the thin plaster wall. Apparently they were set with delayed
fuses to explode in the hallway after punching through the wall. In
one place, the hallway appears to be scorched, as if by a fireball.
I'm told the suspect in custody is a mundane so authorities believe
he was assisted by a magician. Possibly the same that later attacked
Metroplex Guard mages in astral combat.
Approaching the door to St. Jean's apartment the floor becomes
slippery with shell casings and the cameraman falls twice.
The apartment door appears to have been shot through with several
shotgun blasts. At this time Lone Star officers called in members of
the Metroplex Guard's SWAT Team to attempt to storm the apartment.
Members of the SWAT team were held to the doorway by extended bursts
of automatic weapons fire. While St. Jean was attempting to reload,
an SWAT member rolled a concussion grenade into the room. I'm told
that St. Jean was able to the kick the grenade back into the hallway,
where it injured four officers. As medical teams worked on the
fallen officers, a pair of officers lobbed multiple grenades into the
apartment. St Jean was not able to retreive these and sustained
several blasts from within three meters.
Inside St. Jean's apartment, cases of food and ammunition are stacked
everywhere. Like in the hallway, casings from rifles, shotguns and
grenades litter the room. I'm told that St. Jean had accumulated
weapons ranging from hold-out pistols, and shotguns to assault rifles
with under barrel grenade launchers as well as more than fifteen
thousand rounds of assorted ammunition, enough food and water to
sustain himself against a three month siege and two gross cans of
industrial insecticide.
After the smoke had settled, the final score was 11-1, St. Jean
leading the authorities. The deaths of Six Lone Star patrol officers,
two EOD specialists from Lone Star, two members of the Metroplex
Guard, and the landlord, Mr. Harry Carriole could all be directly
attributed to St. Jean. As many as thirty other law enforcement
officials sustained injuries ranging from sever puncture trauma and
"sucking" chest wounds to first degree burns. Jacques St. Jean is
being held at the Fort Lewis maximum security hospital in critical
condition, pending trial. He faces eleven counts of second degree
murder, three charges of arson, as many as twenty-three counts of
possession of unliscensed firearms, disturbing the peace, resisting
arrest and up to fifty charges of assault with intent to kill.
Needless to say, Mr. St. Jean faces life imprisonment with a chance
for parole in eight to ten with good behavior. Due to the excessive
nature of this incident, the North American Civil Liberties Union
refuses to supply Mr. St. Jean with legal counsel. He will likely be
defended by a Public Defender assigned by Governor Schultz.
During the assault on St. Jean's apartment, members of the
Metroplex Guard's Hermetic Section were attacked while in astral
space after penetrating the ward protecting St. Jean. One of these
combat mages was able to counterattack, driving off the assailant,
but not before three officers were killed in astral combat. No
comment is available regarding this incident or the magiks at work
in and around St. Jean's apartment.
After this action, the people of Seattle should ask themselves if
Lone Star is really protecting the people has they should in their
contract <5.7 Mp deleteed by sysop>
