Tues April 17 2012

Tues April 17 2072 Word on the street is that 'Tonka' was evacuated to Bakersfield with wounded from Delano. Patched up in a field hospital, it wasn't 30 minutes after surgery that 'Dauntless', the California Rangers mobile Airborn Command Platform landed next to the hospital and 20 heavilly armed Ranger Patrolmen (Samurai) secured the hospital. Not all Rangers are Riggers, not by a long shot. They are almost a separate, special purpose military. They quickly took control of Tonka's post-surgery comatose form. And none of them look very happy. Less than ten minutes after it landed, the 'Dauntless' took off again, with Tonka aboard. Captain Catherine 'Crow Rogers and Lt. Rickard Mazon watch the lift off with silence. "Maybe they'll kill him." says Mazon. "Maybe they'll turn him into a robot." responds Crow. "Man. I would rig him as a robot, then have every goddamn trog in the Mojave pound him in the ass." "Gross." Back in China Lake… "The man KILLED 9 Rangers! Destroyed 5 million nuyen worth of machinery, not counting the augmentations on the Prospects!" "Yes. He did." Says Hiraku Sulu. Yes, he actually has that name. "And he is a dead man. Do not worry, Captain." "Lt." "Whatever. Do not worry." Says the big anglo man who calls himself Sulu, sipping his tea. "The situation is under control. We will use him for a mission we need completed… but cannot dare send someone with any reasonable ties to the Rangers." "You don't mean…" "Yes. I do. Tea?" Rumbles coming out of Halferville seem to indicate that the Imperials are taking a more strident tone with the metahuman enclave. Mitsuhama in specific seems to be demanding access to the hydrocrackers at the refineries, and attempts at intrusion are up significantly. Gunfights broke out today in Barstow - several skirmishes between the wealthy immigrants from the Mojave and the more desperate, poor evacuees from Barstow. The Rangers have pulled back from the city, perhaps gathering force for some kind of military strike, leaving the local police force ill equipped to handle the situation. The Gypsy Caravans of California, migrating populations that have existed since the NAN wars… have been streaming into China Lake and Redding. A steady line of vehicles - packs and bands coming together for a grand allthing. God knows what the Gypsies will discuss at this moot. And what of the Mojave while Barstow breaks down? What of the chaos there? Civil authority is on the verge of collapse - the city is reeling and crumbling under the weight of evacuees from Bakersfield and the strain of those coming in from the Mojave. Air pressure drops and those watching the desert see the dust kicking up. Fear goes through the city. A Trituracion.