Contract PhasePalantir Technologies"Mr. Thiel founded this company back in the Old World to provide data analytics for counter-terrorism. These days, they've become his own intelligence agency. Last month we investigated Cranbrook Academy for them."
-SamA star shines on the hour of our meeting.
The aspirations of "Flossmore Resort" ended in a spectacular loss of real estate and other capital. Yet months later, the perpetrators and their motives are still unknown. With Warden Rayburn's recent suicide and Assistant Warden Oglivy's continued disappearance, current CoFor management lacks senior decisionmakers to readily question. Furthermore, much of their record keeping was apparently "off-the-grid," and the site itself is in an austere location beyond usual collection priorities.
We are outsourcing a thorough investigation of the Flossmore Resort Attack. Contracted investigator(s) will be issued formal officer of the peace badges and the full cooperation of the local CoFor resources. In addition to fully intelligence cooperation, CoFor will provide housing, transportation, and a personal security detachment as appropriate. Limited reachback Palantir analytical support from Rivendell will also be provided. Over the course of the investigation, the contractor should readily pursue leads in the the resort, the prison, the town, and Cooper Point Spaceport. Overt investigation is authorized, but it is up to the contractor's discretion to employ any clandestine methods.
The final report should positively identify the perpetrators of the attack, any facilitators at Flossmore, and any external financing.
Estimated Profit: *CONFLICT OF INTEREST*
Contract Deadline: 1 month
Agent Charlie Lively"We've encountered this individual a few times now. He was an active AMR CI/FP Agent, until Agent Barclay offered him as a sacrifice last month. His name is likely an alias, and he seems to have gone fully native with the insurgency on Anghabar."
-SamGreat to hear back from you guys. What if I told you I got a twofer? One time-sensitive op Rivendell and another on Anghabar?
So my sources have confirmed Palantir is going to audit the shit out of AMR CI/FP any day now. Corporate is all for this, and is supposedly going to hand over any and all data CI/FP has. Which is great fraking news, eh? Everything Barclay did will get found out, and our asses will be saved. After all, we were just soldiers following order, eh?
Except, here's the rub. If we can see this coming, so can Barclay, and you can bet he's not retarded enough to just let that happen. He just shutdown the Black Masks program, issuing orders to sanitize everything related to it. No doubt he personally has the permissions to even wipe all the cloud-based stuff too. Sure, it'll look suspicious AF, but Palantir won't find any smoking guns. Barclay will offer his resignation, but we'll still be on the shit list.
So now you're about to say, "So, Charlie. How do we unfrak this situation?"
AMR CI/FP has an airgapped archival database on Rivendell. Supposedly the thing is holed up in the basement of some secure facility. The procedure is that you burn data to an encrypted thumbdrive, then send some junior agent with courier orders to personally deliver it. (It's bitch work, but we gotta give the shitbirds something to do, eh?)
Now Barclay can plausibly delete all the data on Anghabar. Claim the IRA or you guys were about to gank it all. Scorched earth. But an airgapped DB in a vault in Rivendell getting overrun? No offense, but that kind of heist is a bit much for even you guys.
So Barclay is arranging one last run to the database: just another chump with a thumbdrive of vital data that needs to be preserved. Except the thumbdrive has a custom zero-day virus loaded on it. Supposedly the whole DB's is going to go up in smoke. At least we're not the chump who's going to get pinned for arson, eh?
Well the good news is that I've got the travel itinerary of this poor chump. Tim Webster is booked on the Hank Reardon about two weeks from now. He'll be boarding the train right from a space port, then travelling a two hours until he reaches Crystal City Station. Now trying anything in the space port will be suicide; Anduril Industries hardware will be everywhere, and Crystal City Station should be almost as bad. But once you get past the security checks at the station, the train itself is very permissive. Sure, no open carry, but it's not like they go around frisking passengers. And yeah, the stewards pack sidearms, but they don't screw with you unless you're disorderly. You guys should be able to pull off some Danny Ocean ninja shit aboard the train to make sure that thumbdrive never makes it to Crystal City Station.
Oh yeah, Tim Webster. I don't know much about him personally. He's a rookie and he might be carrying. I'll send you a picture so you know what he looks like. The thumbdrive is the objective, but if you need to kill him, so be it. I never was the micromanaging type.
As far as compensation goes, I have no idea what you guys bill and I'm financing this out of my pocket. But hey, we're both going down together if Barclay pulls this off, so you'd think that would be worth a discount.
Estimated Profit: 20k
Contract Deadline: 1 month
Speaking of killing, so Anghabar is a full on war zone now. The IRA is fully mobilized as guerilla army and tangling with anybody who comes at them. Fun times.
Now the weird thing about Agent Barclay is that he's always been something of a hands-on kinda guy. It's part control freak, part general paranoia. Still given how potential fraked he is, I can't blame him for that. He put orders out to destroy all Black Masks materials, but he knows his subordinates can't/won't do it all. So he's personally circulating site to site to confirm it.
I've got solid intel that he's scheduled to visit a Volunteer Army (VA) company base the IRA has thoroughly penetrated at Culloden. Now if you're not familiar with the VA, a 100 man VA company is a mix of wannabe tough guys and poor bastards too dumb to find a better job. Until about a month ago, they were literally better than nothing. But with the Black Mask program shut down, all those personnel are pivoting to the VA now. I actually know the Agent that just took over command for the VA at Culloden. Agent Cumberland was a real hard charging dude.
Yeah, I know it's not exactly a soft target, but it's not like all 100 of them are just sitting around the base. Most of them will be out at checkpoints and whatnot. So what, a guard force of a dozen, plus a dozen random HQ folk? And like I said, the IRA has men inside, and are prepared to assist in this op. The local IRA Commander is ready to provide two crack platoons for this raid. I'll also be there to advise and assist as well. Sure, that's not as many bodies as I'd prefer, but between the insiders and you guys, that should be enough to overmatch the VA garrison.
Of course, to get that IRA support, they added some terms to the contract. They don't know Barclay by name, but they specifically want the local VA Commander, Captain Cumberland, killed or captured. That shouldn't be too hard, as he's the kind of guy who'll want to go down in a blaze of glory. They also expect to raise some flags on the base before CoFor shows up. You know, standard guerrilla army PSYOP shit.
Regarding compensation for this, I did get the IRA to bankroll it. It's not a lot for something this big. Then again, this is both business and personal for you guys. I suppose I don't have to offer you much more incentive to "terminate with extreme prejudice" here. (I've always wanted to say that.)
Estimated Profit: 30k
Contract Deadline: 1 month
Interstellar Geographic Society
"Ah, Int Geo. We did some prestige work for them with the smilodons several months ago."
-SamAttention explorers, with the winter months on Lossarnach coming to an end, the Interstellar Geographic Society is partnering with Lossarnach Country Club to revive a long lost Old World cultural event, the festival of San Fermin.
To ensure full participation, we are contracting individual performers to demonstrate the spectacles of the festival. While an unconventional choice, we believe your personnel have the atheticism and derring-do to properly execute the higher risk feats.
For the week long festival, contracted personnel will be directly employed by the festival coordinator, who will schedule them for each day's events as they see fit. Payment will be adjusted based on the amount of personnel provided. Naturally, bonuses may also be awarded for superior performance.
Estimated Profit: 20k (per man)
Contract Deadline: 1 month
Goodhaven Sheriff"Who could forget this frontier police force on Harad we've since supported numerous times? Not the most lucrative of clients, but relatively low risk. Plus, we have a great working relationship with Sheriff Nash Wilder."
-SamGorramit, everything is going to shit down here. The Anghabar trash brought more than one contagious disease with them. My own Sheriff's Department wants to form a union!
The Mayor is toeing the same line as me here: We cannot sanction this tomfoolery. Where's their sense of public service? Did they forget about the Thin Blue Line?
We sure could use a respected offworld professional to lecture some sense into these misguided children. You'll have my full support to book whatever mandatory training you can put together.
At the end of the month, the Deputies will be voting to form the union, and I expect you to save us from the kind of tyranny that could bring.
Estimated Profit: 10k
Contract Deadline: 1 month
Disney-Fox-Universal-Comcast"How could we forget the work we've done for them here in this system? They've been lying low ever since, but it sounds like they're ready to get back in the saddle."
-SamDear loyal SuperFans, a long lost treasure may be on its way home to the Vault. A copy of "Star Wars: The Next Hope" has been reported right here, in Rivendell. (Op Chief Note: Holy shit, I saw that garbage in theaters back in the day. It was a reboot of Star Wars: A New Hope featuring an all non-binary person of color cast. And that wasn't even the worst part. The studio suddenly realized overseas audiences weren't on the same page as us Westerners with that kind of stuff, so they stuck in some Bollywood style musical numbers. A giant honkin' horse-pill of box office poison, it killed off the last of the movie theaters. I'm not gonna lie though, the cantina number was pretty catchy.)
Of course, some misguided individuals don't believe in artists retaining their creations. This individual plans to give away Star Wars: The Next Hope online. We at Disney-Fox-Universal-Comcast firmly believe our fans deserve a proper remaster of the Old World's last billion dollar movie production.
Upon acceptance of this contract, you will be provided the name and whereabouts in Rivendell of the individual claiming to possess the lost film. The individual considers themself a 'hacktivist' and will likely share a sneak-peek readily. Upon conveying any clips of the flim back to us, our Imagineers will compare that media against archived keyframes to determine its authenticity.
Should the film prove authentic, Disney-Fox-Universal-Comcast is prepared to offer this individual a sizeable settlement to return all copies to their rightful home, and place the individual under NDA. Should the individual prove unreasonable, you are the contracted BATNA option. (Sam Note: "Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement." It's a business term for Plan B if a deal falls through at the negotiating table.) Accordingly, your fee will become contingent on the recovery of the media, and preventing its premature release.
A bonus may be provided for cost-savings.
Estimated Profit: 40k
Contract Deadline: 1 month
"Mrs. Ocean, obviously we cannot perform the Palantir contract in good faith, so I am withdrawing that as an available contract. Though with Agent Lively providing two contracts, that still leaves us at five contracts. Conveniently, we have four able-bodied operators available, with a fifth on light duty. Now I know-"
*THUD* *THUD* *THUD*
From outside your office, Ops Chief Neil MacCauley pounds on your locked door, "Ma'am, we got a medical emergency in the barracks. Vega just OD'd."
***
Returning from the TI Clinic, Neil sits down with you and Sam in the conference room. He explains that Salt found Vega passed out in a puddle of vomit in the barracks. She managed to fling herself out of her wheelchair just in time to administer the narcan kit. Now hospitalized, Vega should live and the prognosis is good for a full recovery.
"I should've seen this coming, Ma'am. He's been on and off pain meds since that first injury at Red River. I just had Templar inventory Vega's op gear, and sure enough, his PFASK is restocked and overloaded with a different brand of Fentanyl."
Sam silently shakes his head.
"I mean we did give him a lot of those things for his solo undercover op at Flossmore. I thought we could trust our guys with 'big boy' rules, but this proves otherwise, Ma'am."
Sam silently takes notes on his tablet.
"The good news Ma'am is that he's due for new body soon. That'll wipe any physical dependence completely. Of course, the TI Mod will preserve the psychological addiction, so I'm taking him off duty for a comprehensive inpatient narcotics rehab program that includes intensive psychotherapy. If the rehab works out, he'll be back to full duty next month."
Sam gives a cold and dismissive shrug, "Then there were four."
***
"Mrs. Ocean, we presently have four operators available. It is strongly in our interest to sign both of Agent Lively's contracts. Conveniently though, all the other contracts could be performed by a solo operator. Three contracts should be attainable this month."
Sam's Pitch (Both Agent Lively contracts and DFUC)"Dear Agent Lively,
Looks like our interest coincide greatly here. We will send one close target reconaissance specialist to tail and take down the mark on the Hank Reardon. Two experienced paramilitary operators will meet you on Anghabar to command the raid at Culloden."
"Dear Disney-Fox-Universal-Comcast,
It is a genuine tragedy that some still have no respect for our priceless cultural treasures. We can provide a chamelon-like operative to make contact with this so-called hacktivist. Should the media prove genuine, they will stop at nothing to recover it and ensure you retain its exclusive rights."
(1) Sam's Pitch (Both Agent Lively contracts and DFUC): Sam