>>>>>[Moonwalker, I happen to find my old Converse hightops quite
comfortable.

As to applying to the UCAS, I tried that once and I was turned down.  It
appears that I just happen to have too much money, or more likely, my
enemies had the government officials in thier pockets.

And my defense is already in place and has been for years.  Please don't
be dissapointed if I keep it to myself.  Haven was assulted two or three
times in the last 2 years, but it hasn't happened for quite some time
now.  Partially because some of my friends no longer frequent here, but
also because I've made arrangements with gangs for security.  Even if the
new gang(s) get through the net around Haven, which is actually pretty
likely, I have many of my own surprises here.  None of my children will
be harmed.

I appreciate the offer of help, sir.  Maybe this will help you some.  I
heard that the people causing the gangs trouble, and they've not hit
Haven directly yet, are caucasian with accents.  I don't know if that
means Aussi, brit, Irish, or what, but it's a start.  I've also heard
that they are using Patrol One's that are stripped down, and that they
have been seen carrying assult rifles, smgs, and I just heard a rumor of
a sniper rifle.  This so far outguns everyone but the go-gangers that I'm
working on keeping 30 gangers from around the sprawl alive tonight....

But thank you]<<<<<
        --  Valentine <22:39:51/09-27-56>

>>>>>[Ryuga, while I appreciate the offer, I cannot accept your aid if it
comes from your corporation.  I have a longstanding geasa against
accepting aid from a corporation.  While I have heard of your corporation
and the deeds it does occasionally, I have had such difficulty with
others that I now refuse all association with any corporate entity.  This
does not, however, exclude monetary aid.  I accept any and all money from
anyone willing to give me total control over where and how it is used.
And you have given generously in the past.  If you, as a dracoform, would
like to aid me against Saeder-Krupp, I would be more than willing to
accept.  But as a president of a corporation, I cannot.  I hope you
understand.]<<<<<
        --  Valentine <22:46:22/09-27-56>

*****  PRIVATE:  Valentine
>>>>>[Hermit is getting better, Val.  Thank you for your aid.  I don't
think he lost any of his magical ability or skills due to my surgery.
And without your help, I would have had to either re-grow his leg and
hand, or replace them with cyberware, and I know he would't have liked
either opotion.  He's still in a coma, though, and I won't force him out
of that state.]<<<<<
        --  Action Jackson <22:49:24/09-27-56>

>>>>>[I hope you didn't send that from the shop, Alex.]<<<<<
        --  Valentine <22:50:25/09-27-56>

>>>>>[Not hardley, Val.]<<<<<
        --  Action Jackson <22:52:09/09-27-56>

*****PRIVATE: Valentine
>>>>>[I'm willing to come there to help you with the injured gangers.]<<<<<
          --Gregor Dracolo (22:15:30 PDT/ 09:27:56)

***** PRIVATE:  Commander Drake
>>>>>[Sir, we just monitored a transmission between target Alexander
Jackson and Patrick O'Kennedy, of Haven, alias Valentine.  What
connections Jackson and o'Kennedy have are conjecture.  The transmissions
were too short to track.  But we are definately in the right city.]<<<<<
        --  UPPA <23:11:55/09-27-56>
            Interpol, Special Branch

***** PRIVATE:  UPPA
>>>>>[Excellent.  Keep me updated.]<<<<<
        --  Commander Drake, Interpol <23:12:22/09-27-56>

*****PRIVATE: Valentine
>>>>>[Valentine, I understand.  The T/D stamp is present if I happen to be at
work.  I usually use the corporation's assets for many things not only for
the corporation's benefit.  My employees know this upfront, unlike many other
corporations.  As a matter of fact, there is in place an employee input
mechanism, which is essentially the corporation's test market/product
drawing-board/general interest panel.  My employees are willing to help you,
even without official Ryaka involvement.  Hence, even though the
corporation's employees are helping you, they are doing so out of their own
free will, and not on the corporation's payroll.  All costs will be paid out
of my own pocket, and in addition, I might make an offer to S-K for that
land, only requiring your approval.  I will turn all control over to you, or
those comptrollers you appoint; should I be able to acquire that land.  Oh by
the way, Gregor Dracolo is a very close friend of mine.]<<<<<
        -- Ryuga (00:30:30 PDT/09:28:56)

*****PRIVATE: Valentine
>>>>>[ I need a little more to go on than that. Would you happen
to have any visuals on these new gangers or even a reasonable
facsimile?
]]INTERRUPT: Smartframe Report LS56.23[[
Hmmm...my recent dip into the LoneStar traffic shows a lot of gang
activity this evening. There's also some "stay the hell out of it"
suggestions from LoneStar NorthHQ. Could be serious.

Cards on the table time. I'm willing to help you as much as I can
from here (in my Hacker's Haven, such as it is) but I can't put in
a personal appearance anywhere right now. Give me whatever you have
to work with and I'll crank up the old Fount of Information. I might
also be able so get certain supplies sent in your direction.]<<<<<
        -- Moonwalker <OnTheBall/NotBehindIt>

>>>>>[Finally, proof that it's the non-coms that snap first.  One of
the losers from Accounting lost it yesterday.

I've got the vid if you wanna see what happens when the
Legal/Accounting Department's rep goes off the deep end within easy
reach of automatic weapons.

+++++ BEGIN VID

Vid shot of Freddy's office, but even with the "over-the-shoulder"
shot, you can see it's an ork, not Freddy, sitting behind the desk.
The audio's working better than usual for Freddy's office and you can
hear a rap at the door.

"In!" a tired voice barks.

A gaunt, overly tall man wearing a suit three sizes too large steps
into the office.  He's carrying a valise and looks like the
archetypical, weenie accountant, right down to the stupid little
green visor.

"Uh, Mr., uh, uh, Man, as the elected representative of the Legal and
Accounting Departments, I've been sent in to ask, no, no demand to be
told what's happening.  And, and, I've been sent to tell you about an
alarming increase in the number of office supplies being stolen by
employees.  Why, just on the way up here, I saw that awful Tarleton-
man loading a whole rack of computers onto a handcar.  Now, Mr. Frypp
wouldn't tell us how much those computers cost the company, but, I, I
did some work and managed to get an alarmingly high number.  Now,
now, we can't just allow people to walk in and, and waltz off with
our equipment."

Oooh, he was getting into a fine rhythm.  That last part was quite
the defiant blur, actually.

"Mr. Feeblefinzter, I'm too busy to hear your complaints, now.  Send a
memo in triplicate to Freddy's secretary and I'll see that it gets
attended to."

"Oh, oh, well, then, I'll - no!  I want results - now!  I want to
know why management always just bowls us over!  A corporation can't
run by decree from above!  There's procedures that have to be
followed, there's, there's things that have to be done.  This just
isn't proper!"  The accountant rep was getting red in the face and
more than a few veins were sticking out in his neck.  He obviously
isn't used to this kind of stress, by the way he was sweating.

"Tell me what's going on now!  I demand that the accounting
department gets to see just what exorbinant prices Mr. Frypp is
agreeing to - now."  With a jerky, uncoordinated movement, the
accountant pulls a Colt Cobra from his valise.  All those hours
spent in front of the trid watching "Fireteam Cherokee" paid off as
he snaps it to his shoulder.

Kabuki Man managed to dive under the desk in time to dodge the
fusilade of bullets.  The accountant seems to bounce back almost a
meter after tearing off the long, wild burst.

He lowers the weapon, mouth agap when the clip runs dry.  The trid-
time kicks in again as he drops the clip and snaps a new one in.

Kabuki Man takes the break to grab the phone off of the desk and
starts pressing buttons and yelling into the handset for help.  Just
one of those reflex things, as if everybody on the floor didn't
hear the gunfire.

The accountant starts firing again, chanting this evil, Keynesian
chant.  A troll shoulders the door open, behind the accountant, but
just before he can tackle the gunman, the accountant spins and
stiches him across the chest.  The troll recoils and rolls back into
the hall, clutching his chest.

Kabuki Man starts rummaging through desk drawers looking for anny
kind of weapon.  All he can come up with is Freddy's prized, gold
plated letter-opener.  Kabuki Man pops up and throws the letter-
opener at the accountant, grazing his arm.

The accountant returns to firing into the desk as Jacamus bursts into
the room cradling a SPAS shotgun, he fires a single shot into the
accountant's back, sending him spinning onto the desk.

The accountant lays there, sprawled on the desk, with a splatter
of blood on his visor.

+++++ END VID

Goofy times.  Man, I can't wait to get out of here and get rid of
them.....]<<<<<
        -- Spark (09:22:11 / 09-29-56)

>>>>>[That awful Tarleton-man...what a drekker.]<<<<<
        --  Christopher Tarleton <Dark/Angel>

>>>>>[Oh, yeah, how much damage did the guy do?  You guys all intact?]<<<<<
        --  Christopher Tarleton <Dark/Angel>

>>>>>[Hey, guys, why dont you dismiss your accounting department or prune it
down to managable levels.  That way you dont have rogue employees doing stupid
things like talking to the press or shooting up your office.

Is eveyrone ok down there?]<<<<<
        -- Kor <14:40:46 / 09-29-56>

***** PRIVATE: Serenity Security
>>>>>[Don't even step foot into Frypp Sec offices without being in full
combat gear.  I dont know if you caught that last little bit of footage that
was sent out but they have a couple of employees that have definitely gone
off the deep end.

Please give Castor and Pollux control over their own actions.  I dont want them
to come up shot / dead because they wouldnt take down a frypp sec guard who
had lost control of his facilities.]<<<<<
        -- Jason Stormwind <14:40:49 / 09-29-56>

>>>>>[Kor, the situation is fully under control.  Regard that as an official
statement.]<<<<<
        --  Christopher Tarleton <Dark/Ange>

>>>>>[Uh, Spark, why didn't anyone try to hit the acountant with a tranq?  He
might not have been in control of his own actions, or he might have been
working for someone else.  You can't question a stiff.  That last comes from
working with THE Nexus for so long.]<<<<<
        -- Buzz (The one the Only...Human Bee in the Matrix)

>>>>>[Allright folks, we gotta get moving NOW!  Jacamus told
me to tell you we'd be off the air for maybe a few days.

Anybody needs to get ahold of us... well, leave a message here or
call me on Freddy's phlip-phone - if ya got the number.]<<<<<
        -- Spark (11:15:22 / 09-29-56)

>>>>>[Uh, oh.  Me thinks there's heap big trouble in River City.  See
what I skimmed offa sat feed from SF about an hour ago - that's make
around one local time.  I never realized that the Japanese were
starting to turn into Californians, complete with trash news....

Oh, yeah, the original voice-over's in Japanese, I ran it through the
Kroeger-Nogumi 2055(3) lexicon for a translation.

+++++ BEGIN VIDEO

Your standard traffic helicopter shot of San Francisco.  The
chopper's flying high over the Bay, camera panning across the
Butterfly Bridge.

"The fifth lane of the Butterfly as been re-opened to traffic
following the brutal terrorist bombing of this spring.  Congestion
has lightened up for this mid-day commute, but things are still -
whoa!"

A pair of heavy VTOLs buzz low across the Bay from Alameda, prominent
meatballs on the sides.  The doors are open on both helicopters
and heavily armed troops can be seen inside.  Several lighter attack
birds fly overwatch.

"Machiko!  Do you think you can fly us closer to those helicopters?
Folks, we appear to be in the middle of some cross-Bay troop
transfers.  Uh.. no, they don't appear to be heading towards the
Presidio.... but rather towards downtown.  We'll try to follow the
helicopters in."

The TV chopper flies at a much higher altitude and somewhat
behind the the Marine helicopters, straight into downtown San Fran.

The transports pop up crossing onto dry land and claw for altitude,
not wanting to fly the glass canyons of the downtown.  However, a
pair of attack birds dive towards street level and accelerate weaving
among the buildings and out of sight.

The lead transport helicopter flares, and four lines drop out of the
doors.  Marines begin sliding down the lines, before they've even
played out all of the way.  They drop onto a building with a heavily
sandbagged roof - almost like someone had built a bunker on top of a
downtown building.

"Uh, yes, we appear to be witnessing some sort of police action.
Possibly terrorists of the infamous Metahuman Action Committee have
taken hostages on the upper floors of this building."

The first helicopter veers away and the second begins orbiting.  The
Marines on the rooftop begin securing doorways onto the roof and wave
the next helicopter in.  After this helicopter settles, bulky figures
hop akwardly down and begin running for the doors.

"Riot police in heavy armor look to be leading the way.  Yes, there's
something very dangerous going on here today."

The lead Marine tries to open the door, but it won't move.  Unarmored
Marines from the first lift rush forward, placing charges on the
doorway.  With a  trio of flashes, the door falls to the roof.  The
first armored soldier steps into the door.

"The terrorists seem to have barricaded themselves in the - erp."
One of the attack helicopters rises into the cameras POV, blocking
the view of the building.  The TV copter backs away, quickly, with
the Marine bird following.

Seconds later two floors of the building erupt outward, showering the
street below with glass.

"Oh, no, something terrible has happened!"  The camera gets another
quick view of the rooftop, to see a soldier fall out of the open
doorway, engulfed in flames.  "Machiko, how many troops entered the
building?  Oh, no.  Oh, the horror."

+++++ END VIDEO

And then somebody pulled the plug.  Damn.  Anybody know SF well
enough to know what building that was?

Anybody wanna know my guess?  Hmmm......?]<<<<<
        -- Rumormonger (Always / Tuned-In)

>>>>>[Your guess is...?]<<<<<
        -- Crucifix (KingKong/DiedForYerSins)

*****PRIVATE: Serenity Security
>>>>>[  Come on boss, I saw the vid too.  Do you think I'd let Castor or Pollux
get shot up over something stupid like that?  I have no intention of letting
some streesed out SecGuard harm the pups.

Here are some assignments -

Neuron Basher/Trixie:  See what you two can dig up on the DocWagon angle.  I'd
also like you to try and find out how that BTL got on the chip.  Here's some
info I got from the folx at FryppSec about Megamedia, the company that is
putting out the chips.  (We don't know if they put the BTL on there, or someone
else.)

+++++ FILE:  MEGAMEDIA.DRT

Kor:  Can you get us some place to use as a staging area/safehouse while we're
here?  Maybe rent an old warehouse or something for a while?

Shek:  You out there?  I need you in SF as soon as you can get here.  I think
things may get interesting soon.

I want everyone else to have some things packed so that you could get down here
in a few hours if I need you.  ]<<<<<
        -- Griffyn <14:36:45/09-29-95>

>>>>>[Rumormonger, I think i know what your guess is...and I do believe
you're right on this one.  Looks like the people at Frypp Security
booby-trapped a couple of floors.  Looks like the I-Marines took too long to
act, from a tactical/strategic viewpoint.]<<<<<
        -- Gunny (13:30:30 PDT/ 09:29:56)

>>>>>[Crucifix, 2300 at <encrypted>.  Be there.

Gonna earn your pay.]<<<<<
        --  Christopher Tarleton <Dark/Angel>

>>>>>[I'm there.]<<<<<
        -- Crucifix (KingKong/DiedForYerSins)

>>>>>[Kudos to Fryppsec, if they're responsible! That's better than
a 'no solicitors' sign hung on the barrel of the vanguisher over the
front door! But try this next time: I'm living in the basement of a
building that I've had the first floor filled with redi-mix plastcrete.
can't get much more secure than this, eh chummers?]<<<<<
        -- Moonwalker <playing gopher-boy>