Slavegear 2 - Katsura's Mask

The following is the transcript of the verbal mission debriefing, which took place on the Union VTOL callsign Sokol-1-1, en route to Tesia, Beusoleil, 2068 (Post Impact) November 24th, 01:59 local time. The file has been classified 'Top Secret' by the Soren Intelligence Office.



"As the head of an international pharmaceutical corporation, Kashiwagi Brice was one of the most powerful men on the planet. His money and influence could buy anything. Anything, except the health of his daughter.

Born with a rare genetic disorder called Cystic Fibrosis, her lungs couldn't work properly, accumulating viscous liquid and laboring her breathing. There is no known cure.
She was predicted to die by age 22, but she held on until 26.

After exhausting every possible option and failing to save her, Kashiwagi placed her into a medically induced coma, as per her last wish, to make her passing more painless, and then, he attempted suicide by her bed.



It was then, that his tragedy was exploited by a Parasitic life-form named Kaznachey, an alien being from another planet. Kaznachey offered only one thing - the secret to perfect gene editing - in other words, a permanent cure for Kashiwagi's daughter.

All he had to do, was create a portal to Kaznachey's home-planet, and extract a certain Red Orb from there.


Kaznachey provided everything, the blueprints for the portal, the theoretical physics behind it, the coordinates of the Red Orb on his home planet. Brice was so blinded by hope, he never stopped to verify the calculations Kaznachey fed him.

The result? Instead of portalling a 15 meter wide room, full of heavily armed soldiers to the other side, the Portal expanded to 50 kilometers, and swallowed not only Brice's covert underwater lab, but the coastal city of Ragnveig and all of its 1 million population.



Upon reaching the other side, the people of Ragnveig managed to establish contact with Brice and reported the first sings of the Parasitic disease, spreading and killing their populace on the alien planet. Afraid for his daughters life, Brice denied the Ragnveig survivors an evacuation back home and stranded them on the alien planet. Quarantine must be maintained, he reasoned. Kepler must remain uninfected, by this alien virus.


The people of Ragnveig were abandoned on their new, alien world and left for dead. While Kashiwagi tried again and again, to extract the Red Orb from the alien planet.
Only, the people of Ragnveig didn't die. They adapted.

They incorporated the Parasitic life-form into their bodies, turning them into something more than human. Something, that could push back against the Parasite threat. They called themselves - Witchers.



Upon discovery of their survival, Kashiwagi tried to wipe away the evidence of his sins, by ordering a military private company to wipe out any survivors of Ragnveig, still living on the alien planet. The result?
The Witchers won. And they now believed they were in an existential war with Kepler. That is the reality we must recognize, as we move forward toward negotiating a peace deal with the Witchers - they spent millennia believed they were at war, with us, all of us. Not just Brice and his private army, but all of Kepler. All of the Union.


Meanwhile, the Witchers were fighting a losing war with the Parasites on their alien planet. And the Parasites were winning, predicted to overrun the planet as a matter of time. The Witchers had no choice. They had to evacuate. They had to Migrate, back to Kepler, just to escape the Parasite horde.

Their solution? Construct 9 Castle Cities, 9 Strongholds of epic proportion and place 9 Teleportation Pillars at their center, then move the civilian populace into those cities and finally, teleport the cities, right into Kepler.

Their method? Anchor each Teleportation Pillar to its corresponding geographical location on Kepler, several years before the Migration takes place. The process of 'Anchoring' included a Witcher contingent teleporting to Kepler with the Pillar, anchoring it in place, and then teleporting back, leaving behind the ghostly 'Anchor', a ghostly after-image of the Pillar in question. From that moment on, the Pillar was there, and it wasn't, at the same time. It was transparent, incorporeal and completely impervious to damage or destruction. It was anchored.




What the Witcher's haven't realized, was what effects these Pillar would have, on Kepler. You see, the Parasitic lifeform, so prevalent on Nifelheim - that's what we began calling the alien planet, due to its extreme sub-zero temperatures-... where was I?... Yes, I'm sorry, I have been up for 36 hours.

The Parasitic life-form has a very unique ability... they can communicate with you telepathically, across vast distance of space. And being the Parasitic life-forms that they are, the only thing they generally communicate, is their desire for you to become easy prey.

The Parasites project thoughts of insanity into their victims, rendering them helpless, and ready for easy consumption. The people of Ragnveig, having lived on Nifelheim for over millennia, developed a sort of immunity to this. A limited immunity, but an immunity nontheless.

For them to fall victim to telepathic influence, they'd have to receive a very significant telepathic punch.



You must understand this before going forward. Why this tragedy befell us.
The Witchers and their civilian populace on Nifelheim have grown largely immune to telepathic influence. It happened slowly and gradually over millennia and that's why, most didn't even notice it happen.

They developped limited immunity, without even realizing.


So when they began constructing Parasite Suppression Obelisks around their cities, Obelisks designed specifically to protect them from Parasitic telepathy, and by extent, protect Kepler from these same influences - they miscalculated.

Their Obelisks had a design flaw from the get go - they weren't strong enough.



A Nifelheim human civilian could stand right in the middle of his Castle Town and feel no parasite influence what-so-ever, thus the Obelisks were deemed a success. But the Nifelheim civilian was stronger of mind. He had limited immunity...

An immunity the Kepler population lacked and never developed.


What was good for Nifelheim, wasn't good enough for Kepler at all. And while the Parasite Suppression Obelisks did protect Nifelheims population, they weren't strong enough to protect Kepler's.



And so, with each new Teleportation Pillar anchored to Kepler, the Parasites telepathic influence seeped in as well. The human population on Kepler, who were anywhere near a 2,000 kilometer radius of the Pillar, began experiencing sporadic episodes of mental breakdown.

Each Pillar's appearance was accompanied by episodes of pure madness on Kepler. Hundreds of thousands of people had gone psychotic or homicidal, in the span of a few seconds. Wives murdered husbands, children murdered their mothers, brother killed sister, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost on Kepler, families destroyed, people killed, maimed, disfigured.

We still don't have the exact death toll.


We only know this:

The Union considered this an act of war. They believed the Pillar's appearance was a prelude to a massive invasion. And prepared a devastating response - whatever emerges out of those Pillars, when the times comes, will be instantly, and utterly destroyed.

As far as the Union knows, they are now at war with Nifelheim.




You're asking to assign blame. You're asking me to point to a culprit? I can't.

Who should I blame? The father who's grief was exploited, until he turned into a genocidal monster? The Parasitic entity that lied and twisted his hand, and catapulted a million people to Nifelheim, to use them as food? The Witchers who miscalculated their Suppression Obelisks power, who didn't understand their own immunity and had no means to register its lack on Kepler? The Asteran Admiralty that unknowingly obliterated a Nifelheim city of one-hundred-thousand, out of pure panic, in a pre-emptive attack to stop another Pillar from manifesting? Or the Parasite horde that mindlessly walked forth, killing millions on Nifelheim and killing millions more on Kepler by projecting telepathic insanity?

I'm not a judge, I'm a soldier. My job is to protect the people around me. And Kashiwagi Brice, and Kaznachey, and all those in between have left us with one hell of a mess to sift through...



The Witchers say, a single Parasite is enough to a doom a whole planet. They just... multiply too fast. They were so careful, driving themselves to selfless sacrifice, time and time again, to prevent contamination of Kepler. They died by the thousands, to make sure not a single Parasite could ever reach our world.


Now, there is a whole city infested with them. Beusoleil is burning. And with it, our future burns. I look into the eyes of our children and I see an empty void. There is no hope in them.
They're just going through the motions, like every good soldier does, but they think we already lost.

They think Kepler is lost. This is our final stand and we have nowhere else to Migrate to. This is where humanity dies. The Parasites will spread across our globe, leaving it a barren husk, just like they did to Nifelheim and our children think there is nothing we can do, to stop this.

Our children will fight to the bitter end, but not to win. They'll do it, because they don't want to die with regret. Our children, ironically, our only hope for the future, have no hope left themselves...


Well, I guess we, as parents, will just have to have enough hope for all of us. Its our job, to guide them, after all. And if we can't give them hope? We have no right calling ourselves 'Parents'.

Now, please excuse me, its our time to deploy."



-Transcript of the debrief of Capt. Brown
Task Force Bruiser, Soren Navy
November 24th, 2068 (P.I.)
01:59 local time
Tesian airspace
7 kilometers off Beusoleil

Kepler
Themis Airspace
Cruising altitude: 4,500 feet
23 km off the capital city Sakamundu
Date: 24th October, 2068 (Post Impact)
Local Time: 03:52



32 days before Migration






The cargo bay of the VTOL vibrated ever so slightly, as the aircraft cut its way through the night at speeds approaching sub sonic. The dim orange lights accented the silhouettes of heavily armored figures, who sat strapped into their seats by the walls, facing each other, their hands and feet bound by heavy metal cuffs.

There about a dozen of them, sitting beside you in silence. Nobody spoke, as you tried to rub the blood back into your palms, your wrists sore and hurting from the cuffs that restricted your blood circulation. The seat-belt harness held you firmly in place and periodically cut into your neck, as the pilot made small flight adjustments, making the aircraft veer this way and that.

As a prototype Stealth VTOL, completely invisible to radar and partially invisible to the unarmed eye, it barely made any sound, as it cruised over the farmlands of Themis, quickly making its way to the skyscrapers in the distance and you counted your blessings, breathing a sigh of relief that you, at least, would not have to worry about the local anti-air missile defense system tracking you, and blowing you out of the sky, before your promised freedom had ever arrived.


The heavily armed guard with an electric baton passed by you, and headed for the pilots cockpit, finally allowing you to relax, if only a little and stretch your stiff and cuffed legs. Risking a side-glance, you tried to discern the type of people who had been dressed the same prototype armor as you and packed in beside you like sardines in a can.

Your first impression? Most of these people were psychopaths, wierdos or just, homicidal. A rabid looking batpony kept twitching in his seat, his eyes wild as he kept glancing around, licking his fangs and scowling, biting his lower lip. He looked like he was sitting on a hedgehog that kept pricking him in the ass, and the batpony was just dying to get out of his seat and stab someone.


A solemn looking unicorn sat right in front of him, in sharp contrast, a picture of calmness and tranquility. The man's forehead was heavily tattooed by bizarre hyeroglypths and markings, that, when put together, formed a larger image of a dangerous, hungry snake that circled itself, devouring its own tail. His eyes were tattooed with black ink, to make it seem as if he had permanent black circles under his eyes and his nails were painted black as well. He sat quietly with his eyes closed and hummed, something, that could have been a prayer, or a curse upon all his enemies.


On your other side, sat a woman, her face largely obscured by a hood, but even that couldn't hide her grotesque facial features. She was either chromed up on cybernetics to the breaking point, or she was just, a robot. Her skin was clearly reinforced by some sort of metal, or a layer of subdermal armor just ran under her skin, kevlar, perhaps, or something stronger. You could see metalic lines and bolts that rang across her face, signaling where her jaw could move, where her eyes could open. Her palms were completely metal, fingers showing bolts and screws and crude yet effective design.
She sat peacefully, rocking in her chair left and right with her eyes closed and hummed a soft lullaby with a smile, as if she was basking in the sun at a park, and not surrounded by vicious criminals awaiting their execution or doing their life-time prison sentence.



"Hey..." a fourth guy leaned in closer toward you, this one seemed relatively normal by comparison, a jacked up dude with muscles of a body-builder, hands horribly scarred by multiple old knife-wounds, leaned closer to you and whispered:

"Wonna have a laugh?" he grinned, making the scars on his face contort and nodded toward the batpony:
"You know who that is?" he meaningfully raised his eyebrows, his grin growing wider: "That's one of the members of Marek's Vampire Unit. He was the backup pilot for Slavegear, just before it went to stomp on Adelheid a few years back... too bad his piloting skills couldn't cut it, and Marek chose someone else for the job." he raised his voice just slightly, spreading in a smug grin, so the batpony could hear.
"He spent his whooooole life, trying rid himself of one collar... only to end up leashed on another-"


"FUCK YOU!" The batpony spat out immediately, his face distorting into an ugly scowl, eyes zeroing in on the scarred man:
"I'M NO ONE'S SLAVE, YOU MERC FUCK! YOU'D SLIT YOUR OWN MOTHERS NECK FOR COIN!" His words switched seamlessly into his native language, as he frothed at the mouth, shrieking and pushing hard against his seat belt, trying to break free and only succeeding in making his straps press harder into his skin, leaving bruise marks on his neck and arms. You're not sure what he was screaming, but you assumed from the tone, he was using very creative insults to describe the scarred man and his family.

The scarred merc broke into a silent laughter, leaning back in his seat, until tears started coming out of his eyes. This pissed off the batpony even more, who began shrieking and thrashing in his seat even harder, before the guard at the front of the plane turned back and barked:

"Shut the FUCK UP! BEFORE I BUST YOUR EYE AGAIN!"



The batpony quieted down, angry tears appeared in his eyes as he hunched over, bitterly gritting his teeth and you noticed a bruise under his left eye.


The scarred merc watched beside you in silence, waiting for the guard to turn away again, before he spread in a grin and tilted his head to the other side:

"Check out this doll." he tilted his head toward the hooded woman, who continued to peacefully hum to herself. Her robotic features becoming prominent as the VTOL made a slight turn, making her briefly hunch over and letting the orange overhead lights fall on her metallic face, her eyes closed.


"Hey there, darling," the merc smugly grinned, trying to lean forward to get a better look at her face and catch her eye "What's your name?"

The woman turned her head toward him, just slightly, her eyes remained closed as she smiled a bit:
"...you wouldn't be able to pronounce it. Verrian names are hard on the Tethys tongue."

"Come on, beautiful," the merc tried to lean closer with a wide grin, as far as his seat-belt allowed and tried to catch her eye again. "Why don't you show me those beautiful eyes of yours?"


"Eeeeh? You want to see my eyes?" The woman lips curved in a strange smirk, her eyes remained closed as her head centered on the merc.

"Roksana." The guard called from the back, quietly. You thought you detected a strange pressure in his voice.

"You want me to open my eyes?" The woman smiled, warmly and dangerously, revealing her metalic teeth.

"I'm warning you!" The guard barked. It was fear. You were certain, the guard was afraid.

"Since you're asking so nicely," the woman's voice switched to a soft whisper "Far be it for me to deny-"


The guard whipped his electrical baton so fast, it unfolded with an incredibly loud electric snap. Roksana half turned toward him, her expression turning empty and unreadable for a moment, before she released an easy smile:
"Only joking. I'm just messing, Clarence, no need to worry."



The guard scowled at her, his fists clenched in barely contained fury. He marched right up to her and slapped her across the face, hard. Whether she could feel any pain through that metal armor on her face, was a secondary concern. The gesture had a psychological impact.

Roksana lowered her head, seeming timid and hurt. Her shoulders hunched, she didn't move or speak, or hum her lullaby anymore.
Throughout the whole exchange, her eyes remained closed. Even now.




"Stop riling the prisoners!" The guard angrily snapped, grasping his electrical baton harder and waving it in front of your face:

"De-brief in 5 minutes, get your head's on straight! You miss a single detail of the mission, its your ass that's gonna get shot! That's if I don't execute you right now, if you prove a fucking liability!" He turned on his heels and marched toward the head of the plane again.

A moment of blessed silence fell over the VTOL again.

Located farthest from the door. Pressed between the wall of the cockpit and the other prisoners is a color that does not fit at all within the dropship.

Pink.

A near solid color, hot pink, doe. A pair of pastel pink eyes, like cherry blossoms, flick around face after face in the VTOL.

Her gaze shifts to the mouthy prisoner and she gives him a smile, "I wonder if thats right? Would you slit your own mothers throat for money? Depends on the amount right?"

As the guard begins waving his baton around. The deer tilts her head in question, "How far do you think that'll fit up your ass?" Her innocent eyes lock onto the guard. Soft like a childs, her voice sounds genuine, like what she had just asked was a genuine question.

Sitting side by side are two women. Roughly 25 if you had to guess. Their appearance is uncannily identical in nearly every detail. If it wasn't for them both being here it would be easy for them to pretend to be a single person. Each one with long black hair that falls down to just above their ankles, and cat ears that at this point are hard to tell if they are natural and cybernetically enhanced or a pure asthetic choice. There is also the full set of cybernetic arms and legs on both of them. Not at all subtle in the kinds of mayhem they could produce, yet still designed with by someone with an artistic eye.

They don't speak, but both are intently looking at the batpony. Their expression is hard to figure out and it's impossible to tell if they want to strangle him, fuck him, or eat him.

During the whole trip, a deep, rumbling sound was audiable from one place in the aircraft. It seems to have come from a broad man, with a strange blue hue on his skin, at least what's visible between his  mane of red hair and the large beard covering his chin and chest. His eyes closed, the low rumbling was coming from near him. Only when a thin strand of a certain liquid leaked from a patch in his beard, it became clear.

He's fast asleep.

The commotion in the room finally stirred him awake, and he looked around, clearly annoyed. He let out a massive yawn, not even bothering with subtlety.

After looking at his companions, he turned to the guard. "Hey, got something to read? Need to pass the time somehow, and I don't see many interesting things here."

Mysterious Stranger wrote:"I wonder if thats right? Would you slit your own mothers throat for money? Depends on the amount right?"

"I'll slit yours for free." the merc grunted, frowning into space directly ahead. He looks like he wants to be left alone.

Mysterious Stranger wrote:As the guard begins waving his baton around. The deer tilts her head in question, "How far do you think that'll fit up your ass?"

"Listen to me, you cotton candy vomit!" The guard shook his fist in your face "Don't make me break your jaw before we even start this mission!"


"Do you think you can break mine, before I get out of these cuffs and send an emboli to your lungs?" The tattooed man calmly asked, finally opening his eyes and glancing at the guard sideways.

The guard grimaced, watching the Uroburos tattoo on the man's forehead, before releasing a weary, yet somewhat smug grin: "Oh, I get it. He still hasn't told you, has he?"

"Told us what?" the tattooed man tilted his head.

Red Beard wrote:"Hey, got something to read? Need to pass the time somehow, and I don't see many interesting things here."

"You'll get to read the mission brief soon enough-" the guard began, then raised his hand to his earpiece, listening to something, then moved to the side of the VTOL and pulled out a laptop from a storage compartment:

"Alright you worthless scum, listen up! Your boss is calling!" The guard opened the laptop and turned its screen toward you, holding the device with one hand. The display flashed and lit up a clear white. And then a stylized image of a demon appeared - a human in ancient medieval armor with an ugly red and horned head, with yellow fangs protruding and hanging low out of its mouth.


"I am 'Shi Tong'."
The laptop spoke with a digitally distorted voice. Whatever algorithm was used to scramble the audio, it was good. You couldn't even tell what accent he had, or if the speaker was male or female, let alone if he had a bass or tenor:

"You work for me now." The laptop continued. There was no image of the speaker, only that eerie picture of the demon.


"Three months ago, you were given a choice.
A date with the electric chair.
A one way ticket to a cramped cell in the forests of the north-pole, to waste and rot in your own filth for the rest of your life.
Or a permanent employment, under my care, which will utilize your talents, for the rest of your life, however short it may be.

You chose the later. Its time you took responsibility for your choice."



Shi Tong's digital voice was eerie, it felt as if it was reverberating inside your bones, seeping under your skin like poison.


"You are now 'Schwarzesmarken', my personal tasks force.

If your knowledge of Soren is lacking, Schwarzesmarken comes from the medical triage, performed in hospitals during mass casualty events. Each arriving patient is assigned a colored mark during triage.
Green mark - means minor injuries, also knows as 'The Walking Wounded.'
Yellow mark - life threatening injuries, not expected to deteriorate for several hours.
Red mark - requires immediate intervention to survive.

And then there's black marks - mortally wounded casualties that no amount of medical attention can save.


That's you. Black Marks. Schwarzesmarken.

You are beyond saving. You are scum, excised out of society. No one will help you, and no one will care if you die." Shi Tong audibly sneered, his distorted voice was making your skin crawl, like glass grinding on sandpaper.


"Your only hope is to utilize the talents you honed for the betterment of mankind, whether you like it or not." The picture of the demon faded from the laptop, replaced by an x-ray image of a human skull, there was some sort of artificial metal plate, embedded just above his spine, in his Occipital lobe lobe:


"To ensure your cooperation, you have been surgically implanted with a Neuro Chip." Shi Tong coldly continued:
"If you follow your orders and know your place, your Neuro-Chips will remain dormant. However... should you dare step out of line," The laptops voice grew eerily and venomous:
"Should you attempt to harm one of my men, attempt to escape or abandon your mission, should you deviate from your assignment in any way, your Neuro-Chip will activate and take full control of your body.

You will serve me. Whether by mind control or free will, but you WILL, serve." Shi Tong spat:
"Do not, test me. Dissidents will be punished... severely... and you will experience a fate worse than death..."


He let his voice fade, as the implications sank in. As you felt the dull, painful throbbing in the back of your head, you realized, the last time the guards put you under, it wasn't just to fake your death on public record and sneak you out of your maximum security prison, posing you as a cadaver, it was to surgically implant a cybernetic chip in your brain.

As soon as you realized this, the cuffs on your arms and legs mercifully opened and clattered down to the floor. Rubbing your wrists you looked at the laptop again:



"Now with the pleasantries out of the way, we will commence your mission briefing" Shi Tong continued nonchalantly:


"15 minutes from now, you will land in Sakamundu, Themis' capital city. You will avoid unnecessary engagements with local military and law enforcement and commence operations immediately.

Your mission is 2 fold.


Phase 1: You will infiltrate the local headquarters of the Themis military intelligence office. You will proceed to the basement floor -15, you will enter the server room, hack into their systems and copy a file codenamed:
"Opera Football"

The file is expected to be several terabytes big, so it will take time to copy. During the copying process you are to maintain your fingerprint to a minimum, and only reveal your presence to the enemy intelligence agents, only if absolutely necessary, for the completion of your mission.

After the file is copied, you will upload a worm virus into the enemy network, which will delete said file from their systems, making you the owner of the files only copy.

After this, you are permitted, even encouraged, to cause a scene, on your way out of the building. You may engage the enemy intelligence agents as you see fit and kill them at your discretion. Sabotage of further enemy equipment is permitted, in a limited capacity. That is to say, do whatever you want, as long as you don't level the building.

Extract safely out of the enemy headquarters, lose whatever tail you picked up and randevu at a per-determined safe-house inside the city limits.

This concludes Phase 1 of the operation." Shi Tong paused, as the city map flashed onto the laptop and began displaying points of interest, your VTOL insertion point, the location of the Themis military intelligence office, your safe house location and various routes that could be taken there, to avoid pursuit, which theoretically included helicopters.



"Such a brazen assault on the Themis intelligence office will force a certain individual out of hiding..." Shi Tong continued: "And thus begins Phase 2."


The laptop flashed, displaying a picture of a military officer in his parade uniform.
You didn't like this man. Some guttural instinct just screamed at you to stay away, the moment you laid eyes on him.

It wasn't the ugly scar on his cheek, left by a serrated blade, it wasn't his combat record, marking his rank as Major, with 20 years of service in the Themis military, first special forces, then their local equivalent of the SEAL teams, then military intelligence office and black operations. It wasn't his record as a professional sniper or 9th Dan in close quarters combat.

It was the mans eyes that made you want to get as far away from him as possible. They were the eyes of a soldier, a killer. A man who grew numb to death, who almost died, one too many times. Who saw friends die, who killed, over and over, and over, until taking someone's life became routine.

He was numb to murder. He stared at you from the laptop as if he could murder you if you just said the wrong word, and wouldn't feel a thing. He had the eyes of a monster.



"Major Adrian Keener is the head of field operations in the Themis intelligence office." Shi Tong continued: "He is a ghost. A professional. He cannot be found. So we're going to flush him out.

A direct attack on his office will force him out of hiding, to assess the damage to the building and the extent of the compromised military intelligence. You will wait for him to enter the office headquarters. You will establish a surveillance perimeter, and you will wait for him to leave.

Once he leaves the headquarters, you will follow him, discreetly. You will wait for him to enter an area sufficiently far from the local military installations or law enforcement headquarters -

And then you will assassinate him." Shi Tong harshly said.




"Upon kill confirmation, coordinates will be provided for your extraction. You will be exfiltrated by VTOL and returned back to our base of operations.
To assist you in this assignment, you will be given access to an array of cutting edge armor and weapons, but more on that later.

For now, do you have any questions about your mission objectives?" Shi Tong asked matter of factly.

"I wonder how you'll look flayed?" The deer shoots back at the merc. Her attention is suddenly pulled away and a single loud "HAH!" rings out at the guards insult, "That was a good one! Ever thought of switching to stand up-" but before she can continue the screen lights up, "Ooooh~ boss man!" She exclaims leaning forward with sudden and intense intrest.

Her attention never breaks. Her left leg bouncing in an unconsious rhythm as she leans forward and presses her fists to her chin, so when the cuffs suddenly unlock she about jumps out of her skin.

The pink deers smile grows wide and menacing as she rubs her wrists clear from the lasting feeling of the cuffs, and of the plan that is about to unfold, "Bettering humanity...... Riiiiigggghhhht."

She holds a small smile all the way through the meeting when he asks for questions. The deer quitely raises her hand, "Gear? Toys?... The fun stuff!" She bats her eyes, "Please?~"

"Only if there is a limit or rule," one of them speaks up

"Against civilian and non mission related casualties." the other joins in

"Otherwise, nothing else." they end in unsion.

"I think I wasn't given a choice, otherwise I would've chosen my own path." The red headed prisoner replied factually. "If you wanted my cooperation, all you had to do was give the right deal."

He stretched to wake up more. "My goals differ from yours, but if the same path leads to them, I'm down for it. But do be so kind, give me a "why". What about that man keeps you worried?"

As the other prisoners bickered amongst themselves, the man named Geoff said nothing. Though whether this was because he was uninterested in the conversation, or on account of his lips being stitched up with thick cord, none could say. Geoff simple sat there, staring straight ahead.

The only reason anyone might have to know that his name was in fact Geoff, was that he had it tattooed on his forehead, presumably to save time so people didn't have to bother asking him.

He had other tattoos as well. His skin was covered in drawings of faces. Some men. Some women. Some young. Some old. And also the face of a dog too. The expressions the faces wore varied. A few looked like they were asleep. Others in surprise or shock. Many had signs of fresh bruises and cuts.

Geoff was a large man, bald with a heavy brow. His inked skin rippled with barely-contained muscle, and if someone had told you Geoff could bench press Renault Meganes, you'd have no trouble believing them.

He was so big, he took up two entire seats in the plane, and had struggled with the harness. Evidently he had just given up, as the two seat belts appeared to have simply been tied together in a knot around his waist.

There was no reaction from Geoff as Shi Tong delivered the mission briefing. He gave no indication of having any questions or reservations about the task they would be undertaking.

The only sign he had acknowledged the briefing at all, was his eyes briefly flicking between the grainy photograph of Major Adrian Keener displayed on the screen, and a relatively bare patch of skin on his left collarbone.

Gamma & Epsilon wrote:"Only if there is a limit or rule," one of them speaks up

"Against civilian and non mission related casualties." the other joins in."

"The mission objectives are your highest priority." Shi Tong harshly replied "They are your new god damn bible, if you like.

Do whatever you have to, to complete your mission objectives, in the way I specified." His digitally distorted voice dripped in cold venom.


"For the psychopaths in the peanut gallery... that means if you try to satisfy your bloodlust by using your new toys on everything that moves, and draw the attention of the local law enforcement, before you even reach the enemy headquarters, you will have compromised your mission, and you will be severely punished for it.


Consequtively, if you are confronted by a witness who notices your infiltration into the enemy building, you are authorized to neutralize the said witness and hide the body, in a way that minimizes your fingerprint in the area." Shi Tong coldly replied:


"I repeat, do not alert anyone to your presence. You must maintain complete stealth, until the precise moment you copied the Opera file onto your Data-pads and introduced the worm virus into the enemy network.

After that, you are free to cause as much havoc as possible on your way out. Its encouraged in fact. Stop short of leveling the building, we still need to give Major Keener something to investigate, after you exfiltrate."

Read Headed Prisoner wrote:"If you wanted my cooperation, all you had to do was give the right deal."

"...you'll forgive me if I don't take your word for it." Shi Tong's voice frosted over with ice.

Read Headed Prisoner wrote: "My goals differ from yours, but if the same path leads to them, I'm down for it. But do be so kind, give me a "why". What about that man keeps you worried?"

"Adrian Keener is an enemy agent, working for a rival intelligence agency." Shi Tong neutrally said "He's been a thorn in my side for some time and I'd like him taken off the chessboard."


"Rival intelligence agency..." the merc next to you arced his eyebrow:
"Does that mean you represent a country, that rivals Themis? Or is this an internal rivalry between two different agencies, that BOTH belong to Themis?"


"Don't ask pointless questions." Shi Tong replied tiredly "Focus on your mission."


"Is Keener active abroad?" Roksana quietly asked.

"Of course he is, he's a spy." Shi Tong replied "Notoriously difficult to pin down. But we have indications he's in Sakamundu tonight." The digital voice grew weary:
"Flush him out. Kill him. Don't fuck around. The man is a professional. If you give him any breathing room, he'll kill you and disappear. Not necessarily in that order. Don't let that happen."

Geoff wrote:The only sign he had acknowledged the briefing at all, was his eyes briefly flicking between the grainy photograph of Major Adrian Keener displayed on the screen, and a relatively bare patch of skin on his left collarbone.

"Damn boyo," the merc next to you quietly whistled, studying all your tattoes "That all the people you off-ed? And a dog too?" The merc snickered "What the dog do?"


"Is there a problem Mr. Barker." Shi Tong cut in with a venomous tone.


"He was wondering if friendly fire is permissible during the mission." Roksana chimed in with a subtle smirk, throwing a 'glance' at the merc. At least that's what you think that turn of the head was, her eyes remained closed.

The merc silently flipped her off. Roksana furrowed her brow, making the merc uncomforably shift and look away.


"If one of you idiots deliberately tries to sabotage this mission, I will have your Neuro-chip calculate reasons for suicide." Shi Tong audibly bared his teeth.

Mysterious Stranger wrote:She holds a small smile all the way through the meeting when he asks for questions. The deer quitely raises her hand, "Gear? Toys?... The fun stuff!" She bats her eyes, "Please?~"

"Indeed.." Shi Tong neutrally said "A cybernetic catalogue was offered to you three months ago. For those of you who decided to install cyber-hardware, your surgeries have taken well and the lockdown on your cyberwear has been lifted, effective immediately. Use your new toys well." Shi Tong said, you detected a hint of a smile in his digitally distorted voice.




(This is the cybernetic catalogue your characters were offered 3 months ago.

You may select as many cybernetics as possible, as long as you have enough Essence for them.

Everyone starts with 6 Essence. Installing new cybernetics reduces it.

Your Essence cannot fall below 0.



---------------------------------------
Cybernetic Arms Section
---------------------------------------

Each arm is installed separately. You can pick a different cybernetic for each arm.




- Concealed Weapon.
(Essence Cost: 1)


A completely cybernetic arm that goes all the way up to your shoulder. Tilerium laced, thus controlled by a mere thought, allowing maximum sensation of touch and temperature at your metal fingertips.

This metal arm has a reinforced anti-radiation casing, and a storage space inside, allowing you to covertly store a wide variety of weapons that will be completely invisible to metal detectors, x-ray machines, and most other scanning security measures.


Available configurations:


- Extending Claws

- Mono-filament Whip

- Axe

- Katana

- Flamethrower

- Shotgun

- Machine gun

- Ballistic Fist (Shoots your fist out like a rocket, to deliver a metal punch at medium to short range.)





The cold weapons are reinforced, able to cut through metal.

The firearms can be equipped with armor piercing rounds, acid rounds or hollow point bullets.

All of the aforementioned weapons are perfectly concealed inside the cyber-arm. Once activated, your entire forearm transforms, morphs, or unfolds, either transforming into a firearm, or comfortably sliding a cold weapon into your palm, or extending a katana blade from under your forearm.









- Non-Concealed Weapon
(Essence Cost: 1)



These weapons are just too bulky to conceal, requiring either a lot of space to store, or a lot of space for their ammo. Thus the cybernetic arm looks somewhat bulky at the forearm, hinting at ammo cases or storage containers.


Trained Security personnel can identify these as weapons at a glance, thus approprietly concealing clothing is adviced.



- Chainsaw

- Ballistic Katana (3x blades of ammo)

- Heat Seaking Missile Launcher (1x Missile)

- Chain-Fist (Shoot out your fist like a rocket and maintain full control of its fingers, as it is still connected to your forearm by a 15 meter chain. Can be used to hang from ledges and swing between gaps in terrain.)

- Minigun (200 round drum)










---------------------------------------------------------------------------



Your Essence cannot fall below 0.


Your Essence is your inherent ability to use Unicorn magic.

At Essence = 6 you will be performing at your peak 100% magic capacity.
At Essence = 3 you will only be performing at 50% of your magic capacity.
At Essence = 0 you will be unable to use magic.


Unicorn magic utilizes your bodies chemical energy, to cast spells. This can be indirectly measured by viewing your
'Blood Glucose Levels'

Normal 'Blood Glucose Levels' in the morning before breakfast are 70 to 100 mg/dL
2 hours after meal consumption they are somewhere below 140 mg/dL

If your Blood Glucose falls below 40 mg/dL, your life will be at risk. You may fall into a coma and die.

The cases of combat mages over-exerting themselves and forcefully casting magic beyond their capacity, only to end up comatose or dead, are prevalent occurrences on the battlefield. Each combat mages makes the calculus of priorities, whether the risk to his life is less or more important than the mission, when he opts to cast a spell beyond his capability.

Some succeed in manifesting their spells, only to die minutes later. They are nicknamed the 'Daredevils' on the battlefield.





Unicorns are split into 5 Categories of skill.

Category 1 mages are inexperienced with technique and tend to waste more Glucose on their spells.
Category 5 mages waste nothing. They need much less Glucose to cast the same spells.



These are the Glucose consumption charts for each Category.




Chart for Category 1 mage

lvl 1 spells cost = 20 glucose
lvl 2 spells cost = 100 glucose (Possible Death)
lvl 3 spells cost = 200 glucose (Possible Death)
lvl 4 spells cost = 400 glucose (Death)
lvl 5 spells cost = 1600 glucose (Death)



Chart for Category 2 mage


lvl 1 = 15 glucose
lvl 2 = 60 glucose
lvl 3 = 120 glucose (Possible Death)
lvl 4 = 240 glucose (Possible Death)
lvl 5 = 960 glucose (Death)




Chart for Category 3 mage

lvl 1 = 10 glucose
lvl 2 = 40 glucose
lvl 3 = 80 glucose
lvl 4 = 160 glucose (Possible Death)
lvl 5 = 640 glucose (Death)





Chart for Category 4 mage

lvl 1 = 5 glucose
lvl 2 = 20 glucose
lvl 3 = 40 glucose
lvl 4 = 80 glucose
lvl 5 = 320 glucose (Death)




Chart for Category 5 mage

lvl 1 = 1 glucose
lvl 2 = 5 glucose
lvl 3 = 10 glucose
lvl 4 = 20 glucose
lvl 5 = 80 glucose





A Unicorn of any Category can attempt to cast a spell of any Level.
Whether he survives the attempt is another matter.


These charts are for Unicorns with the Essence = 6

The Unicorns who have the Essence = 3, are 50% less effective in their spells, thus will require 50% more Glucose to cast.

Unicorns with Essence of 0 cannot use magic.








--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Unicorn Spellbook
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unicorns cannot summon objects.
Therefore, they must utilize objects in their vicinity to cast magic.

To create a Fireball, a flammable material must be procured, before it can be turned into a fireball.
An Ice Spike cannot be formed, if there is no sufficient water source in the vicinity.
And so on.

Unicorn magic is incredibly sophisticated and requires tremendous concentration. Spells that are not practiced daily, are easily forgotten, for the hand technique used to create them, are incredibly complex.

Therefore most Unicorns opt to focus on a select few spells, and practice them daily, to gain a maximum proficiency in them.
The vast majority of combat Unicorns cannot retain a good grip on more than 7 spells total. These 7 spells can be from any category.

Some even pick 7 offensive spells, or 7 utility spells. There is no restriction on categories.

Only 7 spells can be selected in total.




Offensive Category


- Lightning

- Fireball

- Ice Spike

- A Razor of Wind (Create a razor of wind to cut enemies in half, or at least slash them.)

- Boiling Blood (Send a gas emboli to your enemies heart or brain, potentially killing them, requires time and physical contact.)

- Wind Explosion (Create a spherical explosion of wind, to blast enemies away from you)

- Red Laser

- Implode - A spell that's been banned by Adelheid's Conventions of Warfare in 0032 Post Impact. Turn your enemy's body into a ticking, chemical time bomb and explode it violently, taking out a good vicinity of enemies around him. Requires physical contact and time to cast. Mages caught practicing, or in possession of chemical formulae that explain how to cast this spell, are subject to 10 years of imprisonment.




Defense and Status Effects Category


- Forcefield (Conjure a forcefield around yourself that can be used as a riot shield against bullets, or at more sophisticated levels, a spherical dome around yourself)

- Mend Tissue (Healing spell that closes wounds and repairs cellular damage)

- Disconnect (Severe the enemy Unicorn's ability to use his Glucose, disabling his ability to cast magic)

- Vestibular Blast (Blast the enemies Vestibular Apparatus system, making him lose balance, induce nausea and possibly vomit, and disorient him severely.)

- Auto-Immune Response (Requires physical contact. Make the enemies immune system attack its own body. The effects are extremely Poisonous, the enemy takes damage over time, for several turns.)


- Optical Block (Block the enemies optical nerve, making him effectively blind.)


- Cochlear Blast (Blast the enemies Cochlear apparatus, making him effectively deaf.)


- Dispel (Dispel any magical negative effects from your ally)








Utility Category



Signal Flare - Launch a bright flare into the sky, comes in different colors.

Reverse Gravity - Reverse gravity for yourself, allowing you to run on the ceiling.

Light - The Unicorns horn becomes a source of light in the darkness.

Diagnostics - (Reveals extensive data on the enemy target, including, but not limited to, his magical Category, his Cybernetics, the negative effects he's suffering from, and injury severity and placement.)


Waterball - create a ball of water to hurl at the enemy, making them more susceptible to lightning damage later, make the floor slippery, or extinguish an unfortunate ally who's been set on fire. Requires a water source nearby.


Heightened Senses - Make your senses sharper by several magnitudes, making you see more clearer, smell better, and become more focused and alert to your environment.


Implode - A spell that's been banned by Adelheid's Conventions of Warfare in 0032 Post Impact. Turn your own body into a chemical bomb and explode violently. Requires time to cast. Mages caught practicing, or in possession of chemical formulae that explain how to cast this spell, are subject to 10 years of imprisonment.

The deer smirks as she leans forward, clasping her palms together as she rests her elbows on her thighs. There wasn't any apparent cybernetic enhancement as far as you can tell. She looked like a completely normal, pastel pink deer.

As Shi singles out the psychos a moment, her smile smudges into a smirk, "I havent the slightest idea what you mean~ I have no murderous tendancys at all, and i've been deemed and I quote, 'Perfectly safe to be around...'" she pauses a moment before quickly adding, "At least thats what they said while I was locked in my cell."

"Episilon, the Demon man is really grumpy. No more stupid questions ok?"

"You asked it as well, Gamma. You're just as stupid"

The twins look at eachother with shit eating grins for a moment then double check to make sure their chosen cyberware is functional.
Gamma - Essence:    4/6
              Right arm: Extending Claws
              Lef Arm:    Extending Glaws

Epsilon - Essence:    4/6
             Right Arm: Mono-Filament Whip
             Left Arm:   Mono-Filament Whip

Kaylee Brown wrote:"...you'll forgive me if I don't take your word for it." Shi Tong's voice frosted over with ice.

"A little." He shrugged. "My actions have spoken spoken for themselves, feel free to take a gander at those files."

At the mention of the cybernetics, he gave a curious glance at the screen of Shi Tong, his face in a scowl. Then he huffed and looked away.
"I got no use for them, you can keep them for peanut galleries."

"Why would ANYONE have a gallery of peanuts!" The deer suddenly blurts out, "It makes no sense! Peanuts have no artistic value unless your carving up the shells or the nut itself! Is it a gallery of artistic shaped peanuts?, are the peanuts painted and put on stands!" She suddenly scowls, "Your metaphors are stupid." She crosses her arms and purses her lips as she stares at the bare metal wall in thought.

The twins answer the pink doe as they step up to either side of her.

"The peanut gallery is a place where rowdy, lowerclass people sat in theatres"

"And heckle performers on the stage, often throwing peanuts"

They then take a syncronized step back and spin to address the entire team

"To which we should probably get introduction and what we are good at out of the way"

"I am Gamma. Gifted with Hacking and close quarters combat"

"I am Epsilon. Also Gifted with Hacking and close quarters combat"

"A pleasure to meet you all"

They both bow in a syncronized and mirrored fashion. One hand accross the chest and the other extended out.

A slow clap came from the redhead.
"Nice demonstration of my point, Pinky. Looks don't decieve in your case."

Her nose suddenly raises, "I'd much rather be pink then ginger." Her eyes narrow at the redhead, "Its so dark in here that I cant tell if your completely soulless, or some kind of daywalker."

Her eyes flick to the odd twins, "Back when I was on the streets. They called me...

The slash bringing-
No wait...
The hash bringing-
The brash ringing-
The gash slinging-"

She pauses, suddenly very puzzled.

"SLASHER!" She rings out in frustration forgetting the rest of the name, "They called me....~Slasher~" she gives a spooky "OooOoOOOo" giving you the impression, that 'slasher' probably isn't correct either.

Geoff ignored the merc speaking to him, and continued to stare dead ahead, his eyes fixed on a featureless section of the wall opposite.

At the mention of weapons, Geoff simply drew a vicious-looking dagger from its sheath, a section of the blade nearest the hilt inset with jagged serrations. He pulled out a whetstone from his pocket, and began loudly sharpening the blade as the others talked.