Sun Mar 11 2012

Sun Mar 11 2072

Citizen of the Tir, Shaman and Denver based runner, Rosaline 'Raven' McLachlan makes her way to Sacramento by way of Reno and Truckee. Getting in to the JPC right now is pretty easy given that their entire northern California operations chain of command is in a spastic fit one might call 'OH HOLY SHIT' mode. If one called it such things. With a whistle and a breeze, she tries to find herself a volunteer organization, but finds out quickly that the Red Cross has long been cock-blocked from entering the JPC on account of all those messy meta human camps. She'll have to continue on her own. And this she does, making her way to the City of Winters. Or whats left of it. The deluge continued for more than a day, a constant washing of water that just left nothing behind. The houses are gone. The roads are gone. This is where the GPS says there should be the city of Winters. But it's… just… gone.

Without support and without a group to back her up, she makes her way down the heavy scar that's been left in the land, to the city of Davis - where the city of Winters washed up. Here, things are matchstick piles, some aflame and some simply thrown about like childrens toys. The water here was only (only) 10 feet deep when it came, but it was full of cars, houses and the flotsam of 50 miles of human settlement. She settles in to assisting in the rescue effort - but her results will be reported later.


Further south, near Bakersfield, Colonel Michael Minton has been shoring up his defenses with mercenary forces. The CalFree Commander of what's left of Southern California, he has his work cut out for him as Japan tries to press south. The battle of Atascadero, on highway 101 is a key battle and since the Japanese took the highway 58 pass, he's been unable to get forces into the area without using old 166, a treacherous switchback. Calling in a unit of the mercenaries he's been working with, Minton deploys them to Atescadero under cover of darkness. Josh 'ROlling' Thunder slides in with his T-Bird, deploying the troops.

On the ground, it's Caroline 'Crow' Rogers, a hard bitten, heavily cybered elf. You know what they say about soldiers. No such thing as a racist or atheist in a foxhole, or when the Japanese are shooting at you. Taking control of the situation immediately, Crow and her small team shore up the defenses, then start to exploit enemy weaknesses. In short order, what had been a route of California forces turns into a stalemate as the Japanese bog down on Crow's excellent use of urban fighting tactics. As her commands filter out to the Cal Guard, the entire offensive grinds to a halt.


'Longtips'. This is a man the Japanese want, and want bad. Not only is he one of the primary funders of the Napa Valley resistance arms, he's also an elf. Go figure with a name like that, right? Still, Longtips has a lot of support outside of Napa. Not the least of which is Alexandra 'Genesis' Beddleton and Victor 'Laz' Judson from Denver. This pair meets with retired UCAS Navy SeAL Commander Brock Seavers. Brock is an internationally renowned search and rescue expert, and if Longtips is in the soup, Brock and his team of former military men are going to find him.

(Brock Seavers is -NOT- Brock the Player Character.)


Local fixer on the rise known as 'Knox' tries to set up a secure information service, a relay between local fixers in California and Denver, to keep people aware of the current smuggling routes into and out of California, who's running what and who's been shut down. He's mostly successful, making inroads with McAffry of Santa Barbara, with Doolittle in China Lake, with TwoSprings in Redding. But Eureka, with it's more volatile politics, actively denies Knox the information, going so far as to accuse him of being a Japanese agent.


Part of the politics of goverment work is taking what you see as an opportunity and running with it. Mi6 Agent Brittany Voliare sees an opportunity to cause a little strife for the Japanese Occupation and corporations in California and takes the initiative. She contacts some of her old assets and arranges for them to provide training and logistical support to groups fighting in California. The runner known as Fusiler gets the call and packs his things. The first few days in California go well, he manages to contact a group and provide them with tactical training on the applied use of heavy weaponry. Unfortunately he isn't able to keep his trainees in check. The group, eager to show off their skills makes an attack on a Japanese convoy and it turns into a near disaster. Most of the trainees are killed or injured, but the group manages to fall back. Back at Mi6 Brittany hears several reports like this, and quickly wipes this fiasco under the covers. They were never there. Fusiler is left on his own to get out of California. Like any good spy.


"Boss, we got a hit." Sgt. Davis calls out from the radio.

Brock cracks his neck, the sound reverberating in the command tent they've set up in Sonora, then walks over. "What do you have?"

Davis responds, pointing to data trails across his screen. "Physical ident match, as well as blood type and DNA verification. He just turned up in a refugee hospital in West Sacramento. Japs don't have him yet, but I know they have people looking for him."

Brock grunts his understanding as he lights a cigar, the butt clenched between his teeth. The flickering light of the match gleams off his cybereye. "Alright… Here's how we're gonna play this ball…"


The entry into the field hospital was smooth. Dressed as combat medics from the Cal Guard, Brock, Williams and Daniels move with assured confidence. Armor and sidearms, they are not out of place as they work their way through the warehouse serving as a field hospital for the wounded and dead.

Suddenly, a woman runs at Brock, hands up and clutching at his jacket. "You! Doctor! You have to help my boy! You have to save him!" She pounds on his chest, irrational in her tears and fears.

Brock's first instinct is to beat the woman away, but it's Ronnie 'Faceboy' Williams who steps forward, slipping his arm around the woman, guiding her away… "I got this, sir." Says he, to Brock with a devil-may-care wink… "Now now… Come on, lets see to your boy."


With Williams seeing to their cover like a good Face should, Brock and Daniels move further in. By-passing other Cal Guard and more concerning, Japanese Marines, the expert team of former SeALs comes to the area where Longtips is supposed to be held. Only… it's empty. Narrowing his eyes, Brock reads the chart while Daniels grabs the next bed over's occupant. "Where did the man here go?"

"I don't know!" Says the young man, maybe 15 years old, with a crushed leg and lacerations to his face. "Some Japanese guys came by, but the elf was asleep! They read his chart then called some people on the radio! I don't speak Japanese, I don't know what they said, but they sounded excited!"

"What happened then?"

"The guy in the bed, he like, waited until their backs were turned, then went all Karl Kombatmage on them! It was pretty bad ass! They're under the bed there, and he lit out of here like no ones business. He's hurt, but he's gone."


Brock and his team regroup at the stolen ambulance. Japanese Marines are flooding into the area… "Time to go." Says Brock, crushing out his cigar with a turn of his booted heel. "Tell the client the man's away on his own power… and we will go after him."

"Go after him?" Asks Daniels. "Why?"

"Because son." Says Brock, settling down into the passenger seat. "The Bravo Team always gets its man."


Ryan Diego of Denver, a fixer of some small merit on his own, is an up and comer. He's able to swing a deal through Erik the Red to supply a couple hundred cases of Ammunition to Kelsey Edwards of the Home Guard. Unable to really get good supplies from the Japanese Marines, the Home Guard gets what it can where it can. This time, they are buying black market Ammunition from a fixer in Denver… and the ammunition has a high rate of dud rounds. It's an aggravation, and by god does it piss off Erik the Red, this little development.


Accelerate. It's a name few people in Denver know anymore. Decker without peer in the Digital Divide, he spends most his time aboard an airship. Or so the story goes. His curiosity piques, GoldRush and their attack on the Dam. An organization like GoldRush does not spring up over night and they do not fund themselves off breadcrumbs and dreams. The Decker plunges into the Calfree Matrix, tracing lines of money and influence. It's a tangled web, and GoldRush does not appear to be without its own defenders. TRipping a flag, Accelerate finds himself under attack.


The battle is over in the blink of an eye, as deckers move at the speed of the electron and light. Traceroutes are run, proxies are utilized and finally, the two deckers square off in Macau as they cross each others paths in the server for the Pacific Prosperity Group, a bank holding several accounts linked to GoldRush. Accounts belonging to high ranking officials in the Cal Guard.

When the E-dust settles, Accelerate stands alone, but some of the data has been removed and the server is alerted. Grabbing what he can, Accelerate escapes without further incident, with a partial list of contributors to GoldRush's accounts. A very… damning.. list.


At the Rag Doll, down in Castle Rock, Vlad looks over at Kolya with a look of stark disbelief. "You want me to smuggle this drek into Cali and then bring you the profits? Are you mad?" There's a heartbeats pause, then the man laughs again. "You always thought small time Koy… feck your little toys. I got something better. I will do this for such an old friend."

A short time later, Kolya's small time deal has been leveraged into something more… substantial. Vlad holds all the cards, and Kolya's along for the ride at this time. Not that that's bad, it's a pretty good shipment of shooters into Cal-Free, even if Koyla does not like who's getting them.

Guns flow from Denver into 'Not In My Backyard', a local 'militia' of California Loyalists who pretty much are nothing more than local thugs and tyrants. These guys are known for their stopping of out-of-town vehicles, robbing and raping the occupants. Nice guys.


Raven, back in Davis, finds herself grabbed by a Japanese Patrol - checking Identification. It's a bad place to be a Tir Citizen, a hostile nation and Metahuman power. She gives over her ident stick and they rough her up. It's Daniel 'Rip' Ripley, street dock who came into do a little organ legging on the side, who saves her ass from a gruesome bit of diaster-area gang rape. Half way into the act, the girl's been beaten and broken, when Rip drops a grenade of Neuro-stun that drops the soldiers.


Laz and Genesis part ways in West Sacramento. It's a curious little good bye as she walks across Tower Bridge, headed into the JPC. Laz is not asked to come, it's something she has to do herself. On the other side of the bridge, Williams waits for her in an SUV. The last time Laz sees her, she presses her palm to the glass as they drive off.


As Genesis pulls away, Laz stands there a little dumb founded. He starts to walk away, when he spies the dark car start its engine and move out to follow the SUV. Pulling on to the road, the car starts past Laz, he forgotten as they follow the truck. Quickly, another car joins them and Laz has to make a choice. Those cars are clearly heading to follow his friend and her suddenly competent team of runners… what does he do? Reaching out with Mana, the mage draws his fist inward, coalescing the forces of magic about it. The wind around him picks up as he reaches out, sending lightening down the length of the bridge. Slamming into an oncoming bigrig, the lightning shocks the driver into unconsciousness, which slumps him over the wheel. Turning hard to the left, the rig jackknifes, blocking traffic in both directions as the 18 wheeler turns over on its side.

Thats when Laz decides… it's time to be gone. Which is good, because as he makes his escape, Japanese men start pouring out of those cars.


In the Chaos of the fall of the dam and the damage to Davis and West Sacramento, the 201st Cal Guard isn't at all shy about running headlong at the Japanese. Taking advantage of the 2nd Imperial Marines' distraction, they overrun the small but entrenched garrisons in Willows, Williams and Colusa. Elements of the 40th Infantry push out from Clear Lake, pushing the Japanese back even further. Towns and farmland held by the Japanese for a decade suddenly find the Bear Flag hoisted above them. The only question is will this hold in the next few weeks, when the Japanese turn their attentions back to Cal Free. Can Cal Free keep up the heat? Can the Japanese reclaim what is 'theirs' or is this the first in a long series of defeats?

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