Sigma
Inactive Member
As Grand Admiral Valken strode down the halls of the 4th Fleet Headquarters, flanked by his twin bodyguards and Rear Admiral Valencia Ironside, only one thing burned brightly in his mind.
There's a traitor in this building!
There was absolutely no way that his assassins could have intercepted any transmissions since none had been made. The arrangements to convoy to the Governor's office had been made using the strictest IPG methods. Personal hand-deliverance of sealed envelopes!
Commandant Shang was now screening every individual involved. Again. It had been absolutely watertight! Shang had drafted all of the letters and printed them at his personal station on the floor commandeered by the IPG. Now he had spent the past week since the attack looking for the hole. If he kept it up for another hour, Valken made a mental note to order the man to take a day off and sleep. The hunt was such a huge drain on the man that the normally-ascetic Shang had finally acquiesced to taking a personal assistant to look after everything else. A young woman named Naomi Evans who looked just as severe as Shang.
"Valen... Admiral Ironside, the building's AI has been upgraded to the ACE, correct?" he stopped himself from calling his second in command by her first name. "I believe so," she replied, puzzled by the sudden breach of collective silence.
"Tell Murdoch and Volkov's man, Wreno, to start looking for holes there. I don't see how but everyone kept saying that Wazu had backdoors into DREI. I thought our eggheads at Cirrus closed them all but if they exist, we have not explored that possibility. And if our systems here were simply upgraded rather than a clean, new install, those backdoors might still exist. Tell Shang to provide them with whatever they need from the IPG's box of goodies."
For now, Valken removed that issue to the back of his mind and returned to the reason they were heading for a conference room.
As his bodyguards opened the door for him and his Chief of Staff, two dozen Marines and a dozen IPG Commandos rose to their feet with salutes. Valken waved the salutes away and started speaking as he walked amidst them, a lecturer amongst his students. "Ladies and gentlemen, the IPG has found quite a few locations for us to examine. Of course, the moment we touch one we run the risk of losing all of them. So we are going to be hitting the small ones and watching where the big ones scurry off to."
He hit the button on datajockey and the lights dimmed as a projection of a map of Prime City appeared. Red dots in varying sizes appeared.
"Sergeant Motoyama," he paused to let the Marines figure out the promotion, "will be hitting this hardware store. Sergeants Hardman and Volkov will be hitting this storage warehouse. Lastly, Sergeant Zanders will be hitting this security agency. Chief Santiago will be coordinating. The hardware store is a front for a gun dealer who deals in military-grade weapons. Some of the firearms we took were sold by him. And I'm told he has a bunker underground so search everything and bring him in alive.
"The warehouse was previously owned by Paragon and while Corporal Holmes believes that its original inventory was removed, it is possible things were brought in through there. Regardless, it remains a popular gathering spot for Paragon and other mercenaries. Kill some, grab some, tag some. We have a special dust round for the LSP that sprays nano-machine trackers onto the targets we hit. It'll hurt and probably knock them out but I want them to think they were left for dead. Then we'll see where they go. Regardless, you'll be going in with power armor."
Valken looked directly at Phaedra. "Put the fear of God and the Marines into them."
"The security agency has been advertising for new contractors and has been actively seeking ex-Paragon. Corporal Watson walked in yesterday, said she was ex-Paragon and was hired on the spot. Even given a tour. They have a store front as well as an armory and a barracks. So expect resistance. Same as the warehouse raids, kill, grab, tag."
Valken looked around for any questions.
Meanwhile, Valencia Ironside sent Bastilen Wreno his own instructions.
There's a traitor in this building!
There was absolutely no way that his assassins could have intercepted any transmissions since none had been made. The arrangements to convoy to the Governor's office had been made using the strictest IPG methods. Personal hand-deliverance of sealed envelopes!
Commandant Shang was now screening every individual involved. Again. It had been absolutely watertight! Shang had drafted all of the letters and printed them at his personal station on the floor commandeered by the IPG. Now he had spent the past week since the attack looking for the hole. If he kept it up for another hour, Valken made a mental note to order the man to take a day off and sleep. The hunt was such a huge drain on the man that the normally-ascetic Shang had finally acquiesced to taking a personal assistant to look after everything else. A young woman named Naomi Evans who looked just as severe as Shang.
"Valen... Admiral Ironside, the building's AI has been upgraded to the ACE, correct?" he stopped himself from calling his second in command by her first name. "I believe so," she replied, puzzled by the sudden breach of collective silence.
"Tell Murdoch and Volkov's man, Wreno, to start looking for holes there. I don't see how but everyone kept saying that Wazu had backdoors into DREI. I thought our eggheads at Cirrus closed them all but if they exist, we have not explored that possibility. And if our systems here were simply upgraded rather than a clean, new install, those backdoors might still exist. Tell Shang to provide them with whatever they need from the IPG's box of goodies."
For now, Valken removed that issue to the back of his mind and returned to the reason they were heading for a conference room.
As his bodyguards opened the door for him and his Chief of Staff, two dozen Marines and a dozen IPG Commandos rose to their feet with salutes. Valken waved the salutes away and started speaking as he walked amidst them, a lecturer amongst his students. "Ladies and gentlemen, the IPG has found quite a few locations for us to examine. Of course, the moment we touch one we run the risk of losing all of them. So we are going to be hitting the small ones and watching where the big ones scurry off to."
He hit the button on datajockey and the lights dimmed as a projection of a map of Prime City appeared. Red dots in varying sizes appeared.
"Sergeant Motoyama," he paused to let the Marines figure out the promotion, "will be hitting this hardware store. Sergeants Hardman and Volkov will be hitting this storage warehouse. Lastly, Sergeant Zanders will be hitting this security agency. Chief Santiago will be coordinating. The hardware store is a front for a gun dealer who deals in military-grade weapons. Some of the firearms we took were sold by him. And I'm told he has a bunker underground so search everything and bring him in alive.
"The warehouse was previously owned by Paragon and while Corporal Holmes believes that its original inventory was removed, it is possible things were brought in through there. Regardless, it remains a popular gathering spot for Paragon and other mercenaries. Kill some, grab some, tag some. We have a special dust round for the LSP that sprays nano-machine trackers onto the targets we hit. It'll hurt and probably knock them out but I want them to think they were left for dead. Then we'll see where they go. Regardless, you'll be going in with power armor."
Valken looked directly at Phaedra. "Put the fear of God and the Marines into them."
"The security agency has been advertising for new contractors and has been actively seeking ex-Paragon. Corporal Watson walked in yesterday, said she was ex-Paragon and was hired on the spot. Even given a tour. They have a store front as well as an armory and a barracks. So expect resistance. Same as the warehouse raids, kill, grab, tag."
Valken looked around for any questions.
Meanwhile, Valencia Ironside sent Bastilen Wreno his own instructions.
Code:
You will not be going on this raid. Meet me after this concludes for special assignment.