It's beautiful looking out over Oldtown. You can see everything you are going to conquer and burn to the ground...
Disappearing into the criminal underclass leaves you out of the action but it keeps you safe and gives you time to think. Oldtown isn't organized so differently from the upper levels. Up above you had the power structures like the city government, the infantry and the corporations. Eash time you have the street people answering to the people who run the show like yourself and who in turn answer to the bosses like Carter, Indbur and Bennet. It's all about raising the people who are loyal to the next level. Every desk jockey in city hall wants to be appointed to the ward council. Every store owner wants to get on the rationing committee and have a chance for real money. You encourage loyalty to the group and the group can survive even if you kill off most of the leadership. When Carter lost her war and the 17th was removed from Boulder, what was left of the national guard flocked to Cartwright because he was a soldier even if he was a moron. So if you want to clean out Oldtown, you can't just take out most of the goons or take out most of the bosses. Most of the 17th got trashed but that just made it so the strongest survived. If the strongest survive, they'll be back to kick ass soon enough...
As you ponder your conquest, half a mile above you the politics are sorting themselves out. Bose and Indbur are both dead and Bennet was clearly ready for the brief power vacuum. A week after the mayor's tragic accidental death, Bennet, Shepherd, the new mayor and other leading citizens of the city are signing a new city charter in front of the cameras. Their speeches inform you that Boulder City is now proud and independent. Carter's return to the city and the appointment of Shepherd to the head of the national guard informs you that it's safe for you to come out of hiding. When you meet Carter she is eager to get the 17th back into the fight to prove the usefulness to the city and get your brothers and sisters in arms liberated from the work camps. However you have little trouble convincing Carter about the politics of the situation. Back before the war, the 17th was strong and it ran the city. Indbur knew that so that was why he was such an ass when you and Bose wanted to help him. Build the 17th back up to it's former glory and give it a charismatic leader and pretty soon Carter would be back to bossing Indbur around. Now Bennet is in charge. Sure mayor Luiz is supposed to be in charge but the newly independent Boulder City has a new executive council controlling the purse strings and Bennet packed that council with her corporate cronies. Bennet doesn't want a strong military ally any more then Indbur did and for the same reason. To get your people back from the work camps, you need to play by Bennet's rules, that is to say corporate rules. With Carter's permission, you start making arrangements.
Three weeks after Bose assassinated Indbur, you are in city hall, signing the incorporation paperwork for Tyler Private Security Services. You recruit dozens of unemployed vets from the 17th and the city government allows for a "work release" program to let an equal number of your comrades out of the work camps. The rumors that you have a lucrative contract signed with Bennet means the banks are willing to offer you millions of dollars in credit, enough to buy proper gear again. It's corporate security crap, not good enough for atmospheric exposure but putting on real gear feels like having a skin again.
You inspect your newly formed private security force with pride. These are men and women who have been through hell and can unleash that fury on their enemies. They are just the tip of the spear of the massive campaign you have planned but they'll administer a mighty ass kicking for the opening chapter. Ready to go, your forces board an elevator for Oldtown and you walk straight up to the Red Sands Arena, a notorious fighting ring that openly advertises it's fights to the death. You ignore the doors and instead create yourself a new entrance out of a wall, stride right into the penthouse of the crimelord Wilson Hu and unload a clip of automatic ammunition into the ceiling by way of salutation. Screams of terror fill the suite and the various slaves and hanger-oners flee the room. Soon the civilians are gone, leaving you and your hit squad staring across a disheveled room at Hu and his enforcers. Hu speaks first.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing? This is Oldtown. There are rules here. You toy soldiers aren't welcome here."
You dont bother to raise your voice in reply to Hu's question. "I am here from the electric company, citizen."
"Is this a fucking joke? I'm a dues paying member of the Syndicate. I have Netan on speed dial."
"Yes, that is what I am counting on. Please call mister Netan and ask him if he wants to pay his overdue electric fees."
"You want me to call Anthony Netan and ask him about overdue electric fees."
"That is correct."
"Do you have a deathwish? Netan owns this city."
You snap your fingers and a bullet whizzes past each one of Hu's ears.
"Make the call before I decide you are no use to me."
Hu fumbles for his cell phone, makes a call and then stammers an apology. "...these fucking lunatics are asking if you intend to pay a goddamn electric bill... yeah I told them that... I have no fucking clue how..." The cell phone goes silent and Hu stares at a moment before summarizing. "He says no."
We hit a toggle on your radio and relay a message topside. "Alright, Shepherd. We have kicked the hornets nest. Commence Operation Infinite Shitstorm."
The ground rumbles and the lights flicker then go out. Outside the windows, the glow of the city fades as a blackout rolls out over Oldtown. Hu's enforcers curse in confusion as a flashbang detonates. Your men are of course properly equipped and aren't troubled. Instead they simply start shooting. It's over in seconds.
You spread out among the room, handcuffing the living but unconscious criminals. Tranquilizers usually aren't worth the bother but you want these men alive, they're not just bounties now, they're property. You exit the way you came in and see that not one light is shining in Oldtown.
Carrying the unconscious prisoners on your backs you proceed to the elevators. A confused crowd has gathered around. The elevators have stopped working and the doorways are all sealed. Of course that's not a problem for you, a few warning shots disperse the crowd and your emergency override allows your men and prisoners to exit Oldtown while leaving everyone else trapped below.
Next comes the payout, the first of many you hope. Bennet had promised you a few bucks for the arrests but that isn't the important thing. The important thing is that you are the proud owner of sixty percent of the shares of the defunct electric utility that no one in Old Town has paid for years. Oldtown doesn't even bother with dollars, food vouchers are the only currency worth anything down there. There are a few legal pretexts to bother with but these men stole from you and can't pay you back... in the newly Free City of Boulder that means one of two things, either they work off their debts in the work camps or they're no use to anyone...
With the opening shots of your war fired, you prepare to head back into Oldtown again and again and again. The criminal scum is cold and in the dark and soon to be hungry. Section by section you will siege them out. Weeks of fighting turns into months as you ruthlessly carve a path through the most lucrative real estate in Oldtown, arresting entire neighborhoods and letting the judges sort the innocent from the guilty. Tyler Private Security Services grows. You cut deals with the other security firms to provide muscle for the "pacified regions". You rule like an emperor over a ghosttown of scarcely inhabited neighborhoods, populated by the small trickle of people released back out of the camps. But the Syndicates are starved of territory and the executive council eagerly looks forward to when they can start putting paying tenants back into Oldtown. Bennet promises you that when you succeed, you will have a seat on the council.
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2272
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Netan stares at you across the conference table. The Syndicate enjoys the finer things in life as much as the upper story crowd. You run a finger across it. Oak, finely varnished. You think back to Cassandra and wonder where the tree this table came from was grown. Netan is prattling on about an offer you have no interest in.
"... you have no reason to doubt my resolve and you can imagine how many of these attacks my men can make."
"Yeah, the problem, Natty-bud, is I just dont give a shit. Go ahead, set off more bombs, kill a few more people. There will be plenty of survivors to get me paid and you aren't killing anyone important. In fact, please keep setting those bombs off. I love having the city police round up and execute any of your men that slip through my net."
"You are bluffing."
"You can think what you want, Netan. But my one and only offer is that you get the fuck out of my city"
"... I think, unfortunately, that I believe you."
"Then you know you must accept."
"I would rather die."
"-"
As the explosion tosses your body across the room, you briefly contemplate how a suicide bomb inside the body would not have triggered the weapon detectors that protected this negotiation room. There is blackness and a bright light...
A) Head into the light
B) Head away from the light
Author
Topic: 23rd century botony! (A wild sequel appears!) (Read 21993 times)