From:	Mike Goldberg <m_goldberg@**.COLORADO.EDU>
Subject:	The Maelstrom begins....(part one)
Date:	Sun, 6 Nov 1994 13:54:10 MST

>>>>>[ Well, it's taken long enough to gather up all the
different camera views that apparently watched the action as it
happened. Unfortunately, that means there are enough copies out
there to make sure that the runners that came out are really
cooperative about whatever the video owners want their
cooperation on.

At this time, I would like to say it was a real treat to have had
the pleasure of working with non-Ares deckers. It's rare that I
get to talk and work with quality outsiders like Circuit Breaker
and IBA. I primarily was shotgun for watching the cameras and
keeping the other aware of the whole situation. I sort of ran
shotgun I guess. Circuit Breaker and IBA had the task of opening
locks, silencing communications, and stuff like that. I'll let
them talk, if they wish about what they went through. I had a
smart frame help them out, but the frame's primary goal was to
silence the panic-button alarms in the vicinity. It seemed there
were plenty of other deckers around in the area, but it was
strange . . . they kept out of the way for the most part, and
helped kill any of the alarms that went off. As far as I can
tell they didn't belong to any Ares project that I know about.
Especially considering the mess in other areas. But I'm not at
liberty to discuss that.

So let's see, where to begin the videos . . . ah, here's a good
spot. Might as well sit back and enjoy. It's probably going to
be a lot to be in. Oh! I might not suggest watching this on a
full stomach. Especially if you had a hard time sitting through
the final Euphoria movie. What you are about to see is quite
real, and very unfortunately lacking in special effects.

+++++ Video starts

A black image fills your sight. In silver letters, you see the
following message: "I'm afraid this video is horribly edited.
In my attempt to get it out quick, there are some choppy spots
that may not make much sense. Deal. Sincerely, Scourge."

The black image fades into a small warehouse. You see a tall,
older elf, with long silvery black hair, dressed in all black,
lead in a group of people. His face is very much lined. It
definitely looks as if he has had a lot to deal with in his life.
The only other option is that for some reason he was prematurely
aged. Your view is blocked for a second by the flashing word
"DragonEyes" (who will be referred to as DE from here out). You
notice that he is only carrying a few foci. You have no true
idea on what they do, but maybe time will tell.

Following DE, is a decently tall human. His head is shaven, and
right now, he is wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He also has a
silver necklace around his neck. From the shape underneath the
shirt, you would swear that it has a lightning bolt charm on it.
The other major distinguishing feature on him is his left arm.
It is a cyber arm. Your view is again blocked by another
flashing word, "Blitzkrieg." He glances around, and says, "I
hope they have some good toys, my weapon focus, isn't going to be
a huge comfort in this. IF I EVER FIND THAT TRAITOR . . ."

DE: Worry about that later. We have other things that are more
pressing.

In walks an older human. You can see he is very tired, and has
the expression that this is far from his normal experiences. He
looks nervously around. Your picture is interrupted by another
flashing name. This one is "Brandon Lowe."

Blitzkrieg: Who is left to show up?
Brandon: And where is this contact of yours?
DE: We are the only ones who said we had a need for more gear.
The contact, and her wares are in back.
Blitzkrieg: Right.

DE leads them back through a small sliding door. A beautiful
young female ork is waiting. She is dressed like she just is
coming off a run. You can barely make out in the shadows other
shapes. Inside this warehouse, you can see rows and rows of
various weaponry.

Woman: Only three to equip, I was hoping for more.
Blitzkrieg (sarcastically): No doubt.

DragonEyes walks back to the armor section. Without hesitating
both Blitzkrieg and Brandon follow him. The young woman smiles,
"Two of your group came by earlier. These were the only three
other suits that you requested. All are environmentally sealed,
and have state of the art electronics in them. From the sounds
of my employer, you are going to need all the help you can get."

Blitzkrieg and DragonEyes without hesitating, grab their suits
and puts them in a duffel bag. Brandon sighs before doing the
same. You watch as Blitzkrieg wanders through the aisles.
Quickly he picks up an AK-98. He adds a few things to it, like
recoil modifications. And then starts picking out ammo. First
for the grenade launcher and then clips.

Blitzkrieg: What type of ammo in these clips?
Woman: They are a combination of Armor-piercing sabot rounds with
a touch of explosive kick added to them. Hopefully, you won't
eat a fireball.

Blitzkrieg nods. And picks up a few more clips. He then walks
down another aisle and picks up a Colt Manhunter, and a few clips
for it. Blitzkrieg turns and asks, "Where are the melee weapons
and grenades?"

The woman responds, "One aisle over from where you are, and two
aisles over respectively."

Blitzkrieg grimly nods and picks up a few more knives, and then
proceeds to grab a combat axe. He then walks up to the grenade
section, and you watch him pick a few non-airfoil grenades of
each type, from thermal smoke grenades, to personal explosive
grenades. He stops at the toxin grenades, and looks up. The
young woman answers before he can ask, "They are loaded with a
toxin that should drop almost anything, including a troll. If
you use them, try not to catch your own team members in it. It
could be bad."

Meanwhile, DragonEyes picks out a squirt gun, a flamethrower, and
a stun baton. He wonders through the medical supply area, and
loads up for the bear. As an after thought he picks up a
survival knife.

Brandon picks out a good assault rifle. You could have sworn
that you heard an 'I'll probably just end up hurting myself with
this.' He proceeds to follow his instinct and picks out some
random stuff.

Before you know it the boring shopping trip is over. All three
of them leave with pretty full duffels. Blitzkrieg has a grim
determined look on his face. DE looks pretty resigned. Brandon
just looks simply tired.

The scene shifts to a quiet, moderate sized house. Inside you
see a lot of people. They are all suited up though, which makes
it hard to see who is who. The screen goes through rapidly
identifying every one. You don't even have a prayer of matching
armor type with who belongs to who. One thing that is nice, the
camera does it in batches. First batch is the deckers. You see
a human female, that gets identified as 'Circuit Breaker.' You
then see another human, this one male. He is identified as
'IBA'. On a trideo screen, you see the image of a humanoid, that
has a face of a skeleton. The rest of body is covered in black.
It smiles ferally while being identified as 'Scourge.' Standing
next to him, in the trideo, is literally a blind statue of
justice. In one hand she has scales, in the other she has a
sword. She is wearing a clinging grey dress to her. The picture
fades enough to flash her identity: 'Lady Justice.' Second batch
is a single person. He gets labeled for astral duty. He is a
very solidly built human, and identified as Claw.

Third batch is the actual penetration team. You scroll past in a
blinding flash, Blitzkrieg, DragonEyes, and Brandon Lowe. Next
appears a troll and ork named, 'Whirlwind' and 'Neon Dancer'
respectively. Then you get introduced to several humans. The
first one is 'Kor.' The third and fourth are surprises. They
are the only two present that aren't wearing any sort of major
armor. In matter of fact, if you had to hazard a guess, you
would swear that they were wolf shamans. Unfortunately, you
never see identifiers for them. Instead a message scrolls
through at the bottom of your vision, "Due to certain
circumstances beyond my control (like Kor not introducing me to
them) I have no clue what their names are. Sorry."

The message soon fades though, and you are looking at Highlander
and Cerise. Even through the armor that Highlander is wearing,
he is immediately recognizable by his hat. Cerise is the ever
distinctive tall, redheaded elf that she always is. The next
person you see is cleaning an assault rifle for probably the
seventh time. He has two scabbards at his side. He is
identified as the 'Punisher.' Sitting next to Punisher is an ork
that is labeled as Fenris. He too is checking his weapons. Next
to Fenris are two females, one short petite human wearing real
leather pants and an armor jacket. She has a katana and various
other weapons. You are starting to get tired of seeing names
flash across your vision, yet she is labeled as, 'Akaila.' Next
to her is another good-looking elf, Princess.

In a voice that sounds very gravelly, and barley audible: "Let me
briefly go over the roles really quickly. When a decker, be it
IBA, Circuit Breaker, or myself (Scourge), talks to you advising
a path, I would strongly recommend it. IBA and Circuit Breaker
will be at separate locations. They both have a person watching
over them, who has experience working with jacked in deckers.
Also, they are already aware of the risks. Circuit Breaker, your
watcher is Icesmith. She is already at your assigned
location. IBA, your protector is Harley. He too is at location
already. I have my watchers in place and aware of what I am
doing (well sort of).

"Claw, the guardian at your location is a physical adept known as
White Knight. He is quite aware that you might very well choose
to go in physically midway through the battle. He is quite
prepared to go in with you. Obviously, White Knight will be in
contact with us, but you will not.

"A few things for the penetration team. One, you have one more
person joining your team. This person has contacted me, but his
ride in is running late. But, he should be arriving at target
area at most two minutes late. At least he hopes so. A few
small things of note . . . your purpose is threefold. First and
most important is to get Crashkit out. I have no clue at this
moment where he is inside the target compound. Either Circuit
Breaker or IBA will inform you of his most likely location as
soon as they can. The second purpose is to get enough damning
information that we can, so we can hopefully get people to
finally believe that these Universal Brotherhood jokers aren't as
kind as they claim. Thirdly is to cause as much damage as
possible.

"On that note, I would like to say this . . . Fenris, Cerise, and
Blitzkrieg, no heroic sacrifices please. We want you all to come
out of this alive. Since DragonEyes is our employer for this, he
has made it quite clear to me, all living go in, and all come out
if at all possible. We have buried enough friends already,
please don't go adding yourself to the list. No offense Kor, but
getting your hell hounds out is much less on the priority list.
Runners have first priority. Hell Hounds can be replaced sooner
than good running comrades can. I know you all have been working
out various tactics between yourselves. We are leaving in under
ten minutes . . . time for last minute planning. Are there any
questions?"

Circuit Breaker smirks and says, "Ah have one darlin'. Why are
you coordinating this? DragonEye's the employer after all."

DragonEyes answers, "It is actually quite simple, Scourge has a
better overview than I will because I am going in. We have
already gone over the routine of who is the leader in case of
split ups. I know there is some grumbling, but I did it base on
combination of experience and gut feeling on my part. I want you
all to come out in best shape possible."

In the corner of your eye a time counter appears. Before you can
even think to blink, the ten minutes pass. Before everyone files
out, DragonEyes says one more thing.

"I'm not one to be giving a pep talk. Heck, I can already guess
that Claw and Punisher are grinning because they know how much I
love the thought of combat. But since this may be the last time
I see you all, may the spirits, gods, or god as is your belief,
guide over you in this present endeavor. I want to thank you all
for your efforts. What we are about to do, hasn't been attempted
that often if my knowledge is correct. In a sense, we represent
a type of light this time. I hope it is a good type of light.
Whatever the type of light, may we wield it effectively. If I
don't make it, Scourge will be able to pay you. Good luck."

He lowers his head and in a quiet, yet beautifully rich voice
sings out an ancient Indian blessing and then walks outside.

+++++ Interrupt video

Drek. The file and video are slightly corrupt. Be back as soon
as possible. ]<<<<<
-- Scourge <12:15:30/11-6-55>