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General Summary
today they emerged from the Winehouse rehab clinic and into the open streets. During this time, Jay still hasnt been fully treated for the trauma he suffered three weeks ago from dealing with Phuong Nuwen. Unaware of whether they'd truly escaped their black suited tormentors or not, they were at a loose end now they were out of the anonymity of the clinic.Only a minute or so after their exit, each player received a ping from the British Foreign Office. After making sure the mesh ID checked out, they opened to see that each of the team had successfully applied for British citizenship, and were now fully entitled to all of the benefits that provided. None of them had applied for citizenship. They immediately felt this was very suspect, but had no choice other than to investigate.
Cherry noticed that the only discrepancy in the applications was that Faith had her application accepted 12 years prior, two years before the Fall, when she was 9 years old.
Faith used the biometric scanner on the gate of the British embassy to enter without issue. Mo Chou immediately requested to see the Foreign Secretary, but was old it would be a week until a meeting could be arranged, prompting him to push forward the meeting via his contacts in the Chinese and LLA governments. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang strolled the rainy gardens and purchased tea from the café provided for the government workers. After two hours, they received a message stating that their meeting could be brought forwards to 30 minutes away, but only if it were with a member of the Foreign Office, not the Secretary himself, and not in the grounds of the Embassy. The team was directed to the Old Scarecrow, a pub down a sidestreet around 650m from the embassy proper. Analysis of the building showed that nobody had been seen entering in the last 4 days, and only three people had even used the street at all.
Upon entry, the pub was deserted, until a holographic AGI barman sprang into life, introducing himself as Basil Quincey Montgomery. Drinks were purchased, and Basil waited until everyone was seated and at ease before continuing. He revealed that it was he who had asked them there, and had an offer for them. This offer was one time only, and there was no returning from what he told them, offering them an exit, which none took. Basil stated that he worked for a branch of British intelligence, the remainder of Bletchley Park, which was now partnered with an organisation of like-minded individuals, dedicated to the protection of Transhumanity from existential threats. Upon being pressed whether or not they would become spies, he smiled and told them that they were of sorts, and everyone seemed sold on the idea.
The party's mesh connection was severed and the shutters on the pub's windows went down. The bar behind Basil folded away, revealing a metal bunker beyond. Basil led them down it, explaining in brief what Firewall was built to do. He led the team through a hall of maybe 50 individuals hard at work with both data feeds and weapon maintenance , where they were led to a glass walled office. Within this office, a fully substantial Basil sat at a desk, hologram Basil blinked out of existence. They were offered whiskey and told why they were chosen: The run in with Phuong Nuwen, psychological profiling as both risk takers and characters who would do 'the right thing' when it came to putting the survival of Transhumanity before their own interests.
Basil then explained the mission which he believed they were suited for: An infiltration mission on a Cognite Hypercorp station. The acts of smuggling, infiltration and psychosurgical interests, perfectly fitting the skill profile he has for the team after all. A Firewall Crow (agent) named Yelena Chikako had missed three scheduled reports, leading to a sensible assumption that she had been compromised and killed. Her backup was spun up, but was unresponsive; despite her neutral activity suggesting a fully functioning brain, no external stimulus seemed to register. The body was dissected to test for faults, but none could be found. Attempts to reroute the neural pathways trough new channels were met with a violent response, and the body immediately reacted by tearing out its new receptors and then at its own flesh or casing in an attempt to destroy itself. Numerous morphs were irreparably damaged and two staff members required extensive surgery after the attempts to revive her.
The mission is therefore to infiltrate the station, find the agent's Quantum Entanglement communicator, and discover the cause of the unknown corruption. If the station has become a vector for a TITAN virus, it must be destroyed before it can come into mesh range of the Selene habitat on the Lunar Skyhook. Should this worst case scenario occur, it would be able to spread to the Lunar cities within 24 hours, effectively contaminating the whole moon, and damning all life there. Whether or not the station is contaminated, Firewall needs as much information as the new Sentinels can find on the techniques used to affect the Crow in this manner, and ensure that the information does not leave if at all possible.
When asked if they were to receive help, on the mission Basil informed them that he could provide some assistance in the form of influence, but little direct help. He did not want to draw attention to Firewall where possible, and smuggling weapons or hiring external contractors is risky. He would allow them to inspect the body and brain of the victim, and also would leverage limited use of the Erato Resleeving Facility. When the party asked who had been hunting them, Basil guessed that it were the rival organisation Project Ozma, but offered little other information on the subject, beyond words of caution.
Upon accepting their new roles as Firewall Sentinels, the team left to prepare. Cherry on Top was extremely worried about her Alpha Fork, Cherry2, and highly aware of the need to merge with her as soon as possible. Additionally, she had been riding on an Ecto for some time, and it was proving cumbersome for her to use the limited software. Using an extremely drug addled Bandit as a carrier for her main server, the two were finally merged back together in the Erato Resleeving Facility by Doctor Li, although this caused a catastrophic amount of mental degredation to the merged ego. Cherry has awoken having lost the memories of the fork, and also in a highly vulnerable and traumatised state, one that will likely require weeks of dedicated therapy for her to overcome.
Cherry noticed that the only discrepancy in the applications was that Faith had her application accepted 12 years prior, two years before the Fall, when she was 9 years old.
Faith used the biometric scanner on the gate of the British embassy to enter without issue. Mo Chou immediately requested to see the Foreign Secretary, but was old it would be a week until a meeting could be arranged, prompting him to push forward the meeting via his contacts in the Chinese and LLA governments. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang strolled the rainy gardens and purchased tea from the café provided for the government workers. After two hours, they received a message stating that their meeting could be brought forwards to 30 minutes away, but only if it were with a member of the Foreign Office, not the Secretary himself, and not in the grounds of the Embassy. The team was directed to the Old Scarecrow, a pub down a sidestreet around 650m from the embassy proper. Analysis of the building showed that nobody had been seen entering in the last 4 days, and only three people had even used the street at all.
Upon entry, the pub was deserted, until a holographic AGI barman sprang into life, introducing himself as Basil Quincey Montgomery. Drinks were purchased, and Basil waited until everyone was seated and at ease before continuing. He revealed that it was he who had asked them there, and had an offer for them. This offer was one time only, and there was no returning from what he told them, offering them an exit, which none took. Basil stated that he worked for a branch of British intelligence, the remainder of Bletchley Park, which was now partnered with an organisation of like-minded individuals, dedicated to the protection of Transhumanity from existential threats. Upon being pressed whether or not they would become spies, he smiled and told them that they were of sorts, and everyone seemed sold on the idea.
The party's mesh connection was severed and the shutters on the pub's windows went down. The bar behind Basil folded away, revealing a metal bunker beyond. Basil led them down it, explaining in brief what Firewall was built to do. He led the team through a hall of maybe 50 individuals hard at work with both data feeds and weapon maintenance , where they were led to a glass walled office. Within this office, a fully substantial Basil sat at a desk, hologram Basil blinked out of existence. They were offered whiskey and told why they were chosen: The run in with Phuong Nuwen, psychological profiling as both risk takers and characters who would do 'the right thing' when it came to putting the survival of Transhumanity before their own interests.
Basil then explained the mission which he believed they were suited for: An infiltration mission on a Cognite Hypercorp station. The acts of smuggling, infiltration and psychosurgical interests, perfectly fitting the skill profile he has for the team after all. A Firewall Crow (agent) named Yelena Chikako had missed three scheduled reports, leading to a sensible assumption that she had been compromised and killed. Her backup was spun up, but was unresponsive; despite her neutral activity suggesting a fully functioning brain, no external stimulus seemed to register. The body was dissected to test for faults, but none could be found. Attempts to reroute the neural pathways trough new channels were met with a violent response, and the body immediately reacted by tearing out its new receptors and then at its own flesh or casing in an attempt to destroy itself. Numerous morphs were irreparably damaged and two staff members required extensive surgery after the attempts to revive her.
The mission is therefore to infiltrate the station, find the agent's Quantum Entanglement communicator, and discover the cause of the unknown corruption. If the station has become a vector for a TITAN virus, it must be destroyed before it can come into mesh range of the Selene habitat on the Lunar Skyhook. Should this worst case scenario occur, it would be able to spread to the Lunar cities within 24 hours, effectively contaminating the whole moon, and damning all life there. Whether or not the station is contaminated, Firewall needs as much information as the new Sentinels can find on the techniques used to affect the Crow in this manner, and ensure that the information does not leave if at all possible.
When asked if they were to receive help, on the mission Basil informed them that he could provide some assistance in the form of influence, but little direct help. He did not want to draw attention to Firewall where possible, and smuggling weapons or hiring external contractors is risky. He would allow them to inspect the body and brain of the victim, and also would leverage limited use of the Erato Resleeving Facility. When the party asked who had been hunting them, Basil guessed that it were the rival organisation Project Ozma, but offered little other information on the subject, beyond words of caution.
Upon accepting their new roles as Firewall Sentinels, the team left to prepare. Cherry on Top was extremely worried about her Alpha Fork, Cherry2, and highly aware of the need to merge with her as soon as possible. Additionally, she had been riding on an Ecto for some time, and it was proving cumbersome for her to use the limited software. Using an extremely drug addled Bandit as a carrier for her main server, the two were finally merged back together in the Erato Resleeving Facility by Doctor Li, although this caused a catastrophic amount of mental degredation to the merged ego. Cherry has awoken having lost the memories of the fork, and also in a highly vulnerable and traumatised state, one that will likely require weeks of dedicated therapy for her to overcome.
Character(s) interacted with
Basil Quincey Montgomery - Firewall Proxy and member of British Intelligence
Cherry (On Top)
Faith
Mo Chou
Bandit
Dr Li Shizhen
Report Date
28 Feb 2021
Primary Location
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