"Hm. Hey, Sons, any suggestions?" Speak to the Sons.
"You'll have to be more specific."
"You are all talking to us at the same time so it is hard to follow the conversation."
"They warned us about this."
"How armed are people here? Would you expect criminals to have gauss or laser weapons? How about police?"
Speak
"That will vary depending on individual and area. Gauss, laser, even plasma and higher weapons are theoretically available and often legal, but are costly, especially to a civilian. Police forces are quite varied as well. Assume they have easier access to armaments at the very least."
"We could give you a total inventory of all assets and goods."
"If you told us how you intend to carry out your actions, we could provide information."
"Or we could suggest how to proceed if you are unsure."
"Or we could give generalized information, if that would help."
"We've been instructed to allow you the freedom to conduct this operation via your own methods."
say to the sons:"I would be interested in that asset list, I think. Have we the resources to develop several organizations lower in the stacks, which could pass numerous people through daily? I'm thinking of temporary work agencies, shelters, food banks, and the like. it'd be a good way to increase traffic so as to lose more people daily.
As for how we intend to carry out our plans, I think we are still divided, though not without some solid ideas. and some shaky ones. Let us consult a little, now that we have seen a bit of the situation here before making suggestions. I am sure we will appreciate advice as we go, especially concerning potential dangers, pitfalls, and circumstances regarding actions we intend to pursue. We're going to be here a while, so there's no rush, I think. It's a tall order, our associate has given us.
Oh, have you got something like a civic defender's longcoat, and maybe an advanced emergency kit, or at least a regular one?"
"We have several ideas as to how to proceed, guys, and I think they each have some merit. We could cause gang warfare, though I suggest that doesn't happen in this level of the stack, nor directly nearby any of our assets. I also think this is a very risky path to take, Ryan. Gangs we aid can turn on us, and more unrest isn't necessarily good for our health. We could increase our presence in the drug and gun running business, and gather manpower from the shady end of the stacks to both operate that business and to collect prospective ... clients.
We could create various business fronts, perhaps something like a day labor shop - something which changes faces frequently, and skim some people out of the applicants. We could create false lotteries, hand out some prizes and select lucky "winners" for off-world excitement. the trick there is to not draw the wrong kind of interest.
We could create or infiltrate hospitals, hospices, orphanages, asylums, halfway houses, and prisons and 'lose' inmates in transfer. We can create charities and skim there. We could create abortion clinics and take the living fetuses, if we want to be just the worst. The worst. Of course, not all mothers survive that procedure, so we could take some there as well. Lower down, we could simply snatch people from dark places, though we'd need more manpower to do that in the numbers we need."
Dester pauses for a moment, scowling.
"I suggest that the bulk of our activities, at least for now, take place a bit lower in the stacks, where poverty is more rampant. But not so low that we are in danger of being killed or our shoes every time we turn around."
Inspect the headquarters, making note of office areas, medical supplies, and any stasis pods or other people shipping devices.
"We would need men more then anything for something of that nature. Employees to handle the fronts would be the biggest difficulty, the funding to do it wouldn't be a problem."
"Specifically a long goat or any anti-ballistic garment?"
"We have a wide variety of medical equipment, including a surgical area. For Stasis modifications."
All good ideas, if a little targeted. However, I think we should avoid involving ourselves or our operations directly. Avoid leaving our 'influence', so to speak. Aggressive motions will offend someone, passive ones are less likely to attract attention. We need to remember that this needs to be self-sustaining after we leave, and that it has no hope of succeeding in a timely manner if we try to oversee everything ourselves. Part of that is going to need to be achieved by some built-in risk mitigation, making it so the failure of parts can't chain to the failure of the whole.
To this end, I'd say that we start by setting up several businesses. Some medical, some gang related, some more mundane, but a variety, ideally with minimal ties to us. Just normal businesses that we can exert some control over. We can then use these as a means of collection. Keep the rate of each businesses intake somewhat random, to avoid drawing suspicion. Set up enough, and we'll have a steady supply that's difficult to trace. If they pin down one business, it ideally won't lead to the other companies, or to the central operation.
We just can't afford to be selective. The wider the breadth of targets, the less likely any one of them will be able to figure out what's going on. We want to be written off as random chance. An extra .001 percent on crime statistics. Barely worth mentioning. If we target something, we won't be that. We'll be a problem for someone. We can't afford to be someone's problem. We need to be somebody *else's* problem.
He turns to address the Sons.
How capable are we of doing that? Setting up mostly autonomous businesses? We also need to know the shipping requirements. Do you have the equipment here at Alpha to show us what needs to be done to prepare a shipment? From fresh acquisition to shipping container? Oh... you mentioned guarded maintenance crews, for the lower levels? Who sends those out, who guards them, and do we know what their loss rate is? And... I'm a little concerned, what rumors are there about ground level? Should we be worried about something from the depths demolishing a stack?
Talktalktalk
((Also, a brief question for PW. How are the facilities laid out relative to the stacks? Cause your descriptions are conflicting in my brain.
(there were going to be pictures, but my system is refusing to upload right now) ))
"Businesses should not be a problem."
"Our expense budget is such that we can easily create many small businesses and keep them afloat even if the profits are meager or non-existant."
"We will need a great many people to work them, however."
"And men to run them who will accept questionable orders from a voice on the phone, so to speak."
"And we can show you the equipment for processing. It is located in Beta; still packaged. We brought it there since large shipments of materials and boxes moving in and out of that area will attract no attention."
"And I would not worry about the possibility of a stack falling. The ground floor is utterly lawless and very dangerous, but its inhabitants are still men. Cannibals, murders, fugitives, blood cults, but none so foolish as to bring the stack down on their own head. Nor any with that ability."
What specifically are you confused about? Alpha is where you are, at about the middle of the stack, beta below us, but not by far. Gamma is an abandoned building quite low in the stack and Delta is Up in what might be considered the middle class area.
Author
Topic: Mission 23: Thing that Goes Bump in the Night (Read 55126 times)