DwD Studios

OPERATION BROKEN KNUCKLE

Location: 'North Pole' Gentleman's Club, Washington DC, USA.

SECTOR has become aware of an imminent threat against the reputation of US presidential candidate Geoffery Shrub. The senator's son Barney enjoys the playboy lifestyle afforded by a wealthy but distant father and until now, the senator's office have managed to keep most of his misadventures out of the press. SECTOR has intercepted intel indicating the existence of a video showing Barney Shrub engaged in acts of gross indecency at a "gentleman's club" out the outskirts of Washington DC. The owner of the club secretly auctioned this footage to the highest bidder, which in this instance is an organisation we only know as CITADEL. Whether CITADEL intend to use the footage to gain leverage over the senator, or use it to sabotage his presidential campaign is uncertain. The exchange is scheduled to occur tonight at the same establishment that the recording was made, the 'North Pole'. Your objective is to prevent CITADEL from taking possession of the blackmail material by destroying the original video as well as any copies that may have been made.

The owner of the club is an Alaskan biker called Kurt Kruise. He is the chapter leader of a biker gang calling themselves 'The Road Hogs'. The FBI have been investigating Kruise and his gang on suspicion of prostitution and human trafficking, but have been unable to secure a conviction. There is an FBI surveillance team staking out the 'North Pole', you are to avoid contact with this team. However, if you can secure evidence that Kruise and his gang are involved in any unlawful activity, we will ensure that it finds its way into the right hands.

OBJECTIVES

PRIMARY: Prevent sale of blackmail evidence to CITADEL agent. Destroy all copies of the blackmail evidence. [3DP]

SECONDARY: Find evidence that the 'Road Hogs' motorcycle gang is involved in unlawful activity. Avoid contact with FBI survelliance team on site [2DP].

ADDITIONAL: Do not kill Kurt Kruise [1DP] / Capture the CITADEL agent [1DP].

I have a group of five players. So far, only two have posted character concepts.

The first (Andy #1) is playing Alek Trevelyan (played by Sean Bean).

(yes, that is pretty lazy, but who doesn't love Sean Bean?) :p

The second (Richard) is playing Stig Zango (played by Richard Ayoade).

"Zango was born to a Norwegian mother and a Nigerian father in Bergen, Norway. He started rallying before he was out of his teens and developed a reputation as a cool-headed but audacious driver. He financed his racing with a mixture of sponsorship and a chauffeuring job. One day the VIP he was driving - an Israeli diplomat - was the subject of an attempted kidnap. His limo was rammed and pursued by several SUVs but Zango outdrove them all and delivered his charge safely. The VIP's bodyguard was impressed and a little while later Stig joined Intensecure Close Protection. This job took him all over Europe and the USA, and while he enjoyed the glamorous world in which he now moved, he missed racing. After a while his passengers started to complain that their journeys were becoming rather more 'exciting and eventful' than they would like. Stig was on his third warning when a SECTOR operative hired him as a driver to pick up a contact from an hotel in Las Vegas. The contact's cover was blown and Zango found himself racing for his life across the Nevada desert. Fortunately he was more than equal to the task. A little later he left Intensecure and joined SECTOR.

Positive: Zango is cool, calm, collected and even cheerful in stressful situations, particularly when driving.
Negative: He is a bit OCD and needs to go through certain rituals before he can perform with poise and confidence. Examples include wiping the mirrors of any vehicle he is driving with a cloth he has kept since his first days rallying, or wearing exactly the same outfit (dark suit, red tie, white shirt) when on operations. If he is prevented from doing this he will not perform at his best."

I'm going for a cinematic feel to this campaign and encouraged players to 'cast' their character as though they were in a Hollywood spy movie.

The players are operating from SECTOR's Atlantic Base, a re-purposed oil rig on the fringe of the Bermuda Triangle, disguised as a functional marine biology facility.

Director of Operations at Atlantic Base is Director Ludlum (cameo from author Robert Ludlum).

He is assisted by Deputy Director Ethan Birde (played by Guy Pearce).

Head of Security Sam Hunter (played by the guy who plays Luke Cage, I forget his name - Mike Something).

The teams weapons/gear is controlled by Professor Hugh Pearce (played by a wheelchair-bound Pierce Brosnam) and his capable assistant Mia Morel (played by Emma Stone).

First game session tonight, really looking forward to starting this campaign and seeing how the players like the system.

Another player [Andy #2] has posted his character: Aubrey Shatners-Basoon.

"Captain Shatners-Bassoon was a promising young officer. Coming from a well to do family, Aubrey excelled at Officer Training and everything seemed to come to him easily. Always sporty and athletic, the Army suited him well. He was division boxing champion twice, an inter-forces rower, cross-country runner. There wasn't a sport he'd have a hearty good go at.

Well mannered, charming and good natured, his subordinates and superiors liked and trusted him. Then came Afghanistan. After an uneventful first tour, Aubrey stayed for a second. On a rudimentary patrol, an IED took a leg and his career.

Back in England, recovery was long and difficult. Eventually he came to terms with his new life and his disability and, in his inimitable style, Aubrey Shatners-Bassoon set his sights on the Paralympics. In Beijing 2008, he took home two silvers and a bronze and immediately set his sights on winning gold in 2012.

However, this was not meant to be. SECTOR had been watching him for a while and thought they could use someone like the Captain. Excited by the challenge, Aubrey accepted.

Positive: Aubrey is confident, brave, loyal and possessed with boundless energy. He will attempt any physical challenge or activity, as if desperate prove that his disabilities do not make him less of a man.
Negative: His injuries in the explosion left him with his left leg missing below the knee but is fitted with a blade. Some head trauma has left him with mild tourettes, he's prone to blurting out exactly what he thinks without considering the social implications. He occasional suffers from bouts of PTSD which results in nightmares and, in rare occasions, panic attacks."

First session went realy well. I will be doing a write-up shortly and have encouraged players to produce a Mission Report for extra DP. Will post these as/when they become available. In the meantime, the final two players created their characters last night;

Steve was Noel Bradley (played by Ibris Elba), a disgraced surgeon from the NHS.

Charles was Stanley Parable (played by Simon Pegg) a computer hacker recruited to SECTOR when he inadvertently hacked into what was supposedly a secure network.

It's fun that you're using actor faces rather than illustrated ones for the characters. It somehow makes it feel more realistic - I wonder why I haven't tried that before?!

Our group does that, too. It's particularly easy for a contemporary spy game. There's an endless supply of images a Google search away.

I've really enjoyed prepping for this game and a large part of that has been the 'casting' process. I would recommend it! :D

COVERT OPS – WEEK ONE [02/03/2017]

Andy C – Alek Trevelyan (Sean Bean)
Charles – Stanley Parable (Simon Pegg)
Steve – Noel Bradley (Ibris Elba)
Richard – Stig Zango (Richard Ayoade)
Andy S – Aubrey Shatners-Basoon (Rowan Atkinson)

The new recruits are choppered out to SECTOR’s Atlantic Base, a re-purposed oil rig on the edge of the Bermuda Triangle. Masquerading as a marine biology laboratory; in reality, the rig is a top secret staging post for covert operations around the globe. A harried Deputy-Director Ethan Birde greets the recruits on the landing pad and hustles them into a conference room to meet base Director Ludlum. Never one for courtly etiquette, Ludlum slings a mission dossier across the desk. Bold black letters across the front of the folder read: ‘TOP SECRET. OPERATION BROKEN KNUCKLE’.

“The good-for-nothing son of presidential candidate Geoffrey Shrub has been captured on video performing acts of gross indecency in a strip joint in one of the seedier corners of Washington DC,” Director Ludlum explains. “The owner of the club, an Alaskan biker called Kurt Kruise has sold the incriminating footage to CITADEL and the trade is scheduled to occur tonight. You should consider this your baptism by fire, an opportunity to demonstrate your worth to SECTOR. Your mission is to disrupt the sale and destroy the blackmail evidence. Prove yourselves up to the task and you will join SECTOR as fully-fledged agents.”

The recruits head down to the R&D department and meet Professor Hank Pearce, the wheelchair-bound genius behind most of the cool gear that SECTOR operatives get to play with. He assigns each recruit an allowance with which to equip themselves for the operation. Generously, SECTOR allocates the recruits a van, which will be waiting for them at the airfield in Washington. Stig convinces the maintenance crew to throw in a free performance upgrade to (partially) mitigate the shame of going on their first mission in a van. Noel gets into a bit of a barney with Security Chief Sam Hunter when he tries to swap his sidearm for a non-lethal stun gun. However, Professor Pearce’s research assistant Mia Morel is impressed by Noel’s concern for human life. Noel is impressed by her sexy French accent and curvaceous figure.

The recruits fly to Washington. Stig drives (recklessly) to the ‘North Pole’ gentleman’s club, avoiding cameras and police patrols along the route. In the back of the van, Alek, Aubrey and Stanley all implore him to slow down, as they are tossed about like sacks of muddy spuds. Reaching their destination, Stanley scans for wireless networks and hacks into Kurt Kruise’s personal e-mail account. He finds correspondence between the chapter leader and the CITADEL courier, indicating the exchange is due to occur between 20:00 & 22:00 hours. Stanley also locates the original digital recording of the senator’s son snorting cocaine from the belly-button of an eastern-European hooker and deletes it from the biker’s hard-drive. However, he suspects that Kruise has burned a copy of the video onto CD. While Stanley is playing with his computer, Stig goes looking for a 24-7 convenience store where he can score some energy drinks. Alek harangues him into also bringing back a six-pack of cheap beer.

At 19:00 hours, the recruits head into the ‘North Pole’. The interior is dim and grubby, the clientele dirty and desperate. A hollow-eyed dancer on the wrong side of thirty gyrates grudgingly on a greasy pole. The recruits order their drinks and gather around a darkened table near the door, uncomfortably aware that their cover story of being on a stag night is not as clever as they first conceived. Noel heeds the call of nature and visits the water closet. He soon wishes that he hadn’t. The recruits finish their drinks and head back to the van, having learnt nothing of value and wasted thirty minutes in the process.

Aubrey investigates the rear of the building and encounters a gang of five bikers lounging in a cavernous loading bay. The recruits devise a new plan, wherein Stig knocks over some motorbikes with the van then drives off, hopefully drawing away most of the bikers in hot pursuit. The plan works well and three of the five sentries abandon their post to chase the fleeing driver, leaving just two to guard the club. Aubrey re-appears, brandishing his pistol and encourages the remaining goons to surrender. The bikers lunge for their weapons so Alek executes them both, two silenced gunshots dropping them in as many seconds. The recruits hide the bodies under a dusty tarp and sneak in through the rear of the club. A narrow staircase leads up to the first floor, where curtained partitions create cosy booths wherein Slavic whores practise their filthy trade. A solitary guard is too busy peeking to notice Alek’s stealth approach, although he soon becomes aware of the recruit’s presence when Alek puts him in a sleeper hold. Noel relieves the unconscious guard of his keys and releases a trio of captive women whom the bikers had designs on forcing into the flesh trade.

Meanwhile, Stig leads the bikers on a merry chase through the darkened streets of Washington’s industrial quarter. He is struggling to control his speed so that they don’t lose sight of him and return to the club. The bikers swing metal bars at the sides of the van, shattering one of the small windows in the rear door. Stig brakes suddenly and hears the satisfying crunch of an unsuspecting biker colliding with the back of the van. Suddenly, the window in the driver-side door shatters inward! Stig swerves to the right, but the biker manages to grab hold of the van and cling there like a furious limpet. Stig veers wildly, causing the biker to lose his grip and fly through the window of a children’s restaurant. Little Timmy’s 10th birthday party is ruined when a fat, hairy man crashes through the glass and lands in the cake. Tyres screech as Stig performs a sudden U-turn and races back towards the ‘North Pole’. Upon arrival, he immediately notices that two black SUVs have pulled up outside the bar and a collection of serious looking men in dark suits are malingering with intent.

“Guys, you’ve got company,” Stig says, speaking through the S-com device lodged in his left ear, “The CITADEL crew just rolled up. The courier is already on his way in to meet Kruise. Whatever you’re doing, get it done fast.”

Forewarned by their driver, the other recruits hide in the curtained booths as the CITADEL agents pass. Noel uses the stethoscope from his medic pack to listen in on their conversation through the wall of Kruise’s office. The chapter leader hands over the only hard copy of the blackmail evidence in exchange for a briefcase containing fifty thousand dollars. As the CITADEL agents are leaving, SECTOR spring their ambush! A vicious gunfight erupts in the narrow corridor. Kruise barks a command and two Alaskan huskies join the fray. Noel tasers the first animal with his stun gun and Alek puts the second to sleep via a bullet in its hairy dog-face. Aubrey pops out of cover and takes out one of the CITADEL mooks, only to bite a bullet from Kruise’s high calibre revolver in return. His left arm useless and drenched in blood, Aubrey slumps against the wall, making space for Alek to finish the job. Alek shoots the CITADEL courier (two rounds to the torso and a third between the eyes), grabs the CD that falls from his lifeless fingers and yells for the rest of the team to withdraw. Stig brings the van around the back of the club. Alek and Aubrey leap from a first floor window, bounce off the roof of the van and clamber in. Noel and Stanley exit via the stairs, carrying the three helpless women that they rescued from the biker's torrid sex grotto. Stig throws the vehicle into gear and makes for the airfield, where a SECTOR pilot is waiting to chopper them back to Atlantic Base.

Behind them, the four blocks of C4 plastic explosive hidden in the CITADEL courier’s briefcase explode, destroying the top floor of the ‘North Pole’ in a fiery blast that showers the whole block with flaming debris.

To be continued….

Second session of Covert Ops campaign tonight! Have posted briefing for players and reproduced it here;

OPERATION SANGRIA SHUFFLE

Location: San Sebastian, Spain.

SECTOR has received a report stating that a former Nazi scientist Hans Eichmann passed away two nights ago at a nursing home in Hamburg, Germany. Eichmann avoided prosecution as a war criminal in 2005 due to a lack of evidence. However, it seems that he made some rather... outlandish claims on his deathbed. Apparently, Eichmann confessed leading a secret project to develop a Nazi super-weapon based on technology salvaged from a crashed UFO. Outlandish or not, these claims need to be investigated. Before his death, Eichmann claimed the secret to deciphering his research was hidden in a collection of four paintings titled 'The Four Knights led by Brunnhilde'. SECTOR has not been able to locate these paintings, so you are being sent to make contact with a SECTOR informant living in sunny San Sebastian, Spain. The informant's name is Silvio Caruso and he is a skilled artist and forger whose services SECTOR have called on in the past. If anyone has the contacts to track down these four obscure paintings, it will be him.

OBJECTIVES

PRIMARY: Contact Silvio Caruso and persuade him to locate 'The Four Knights led by Brunnhilde' [3DP].
SECONDARY: n/a
OPTIONAL: Acquire intel on CITADEL operations in Europe [1DP].

We were two players down tonight (Charles & Steve), but a new person turned up without a game and played Charlie's character. He will create his own operative next week.

Some feedback: Richard unhappy with lack of a skill for communicating/talking. I am going to build a new skill called NEGOTIATOR (Will based, used unskilled) and start play-testing it next week. I will post it here when ready too.

Write-up for week two will be up soon. :D

COVERT OPS - WEEK TWO/PART ONE [09/03/2017]

Andy C - Alek Trevelyan
Mark - Stanley Parable
Richard - Stig Zango
Andy S - Aubrey Shatners-Basoon

ATLANTIC BASE, 05:00 HOURS: Despite his weak protestation that all he needs is a strong cup of tea, Aubrey is rushed to the medical bay for surgery. The bullet fired from Kurt Kruise's high-powered hand cannon has lodged amidst the bones in his shoulder and needs to be operated on immediately. Noel enjoys a moment to gloat that the medic pack Aubrey refused to buy for him is now needed to save the man's life, before remembering that his Hippocratic Oath requires that he get on with the surgery before Aubrey loses another limb. Mia assists and the operation goes smoothly.

As Aubrey recovers consciousness, he finds Professor Pearce's wheelchair parked by his bedside. Inspired by Aubrey's cool sword-leg (inspired by the awesome movie 'Kingsman'), Pearce has prepared sketches for some even more implausible prosthetics; he is particularly enthused by the possibility of fitting Aubrey with a flamethrower leg. Aubrey groggily agrees to the procedure, but (to Pearce's disappointment) rejects the suggestion that he go "full cyborg". Aubrey slips back into a troubled sleep and Pearce takes the opportunity to hide a donor card in the man's wallet.

Meanwhile, Deputy-Director Birde notices that Stig has not completed his mandatory pilot training (mistake during character creation, forgot pilot focus) and he spends the next six hours doing barrel rolls over the ocean. Sam Hunter approaches Alek and challenges him to a drinking/shooting contest (those two activities always make a great combination). The aim is to chug a bottle of beer, then throw the empty vessel into the air and shoot it before it hits the ground. Alek holds his own in the first round, but the second beer goes down the wrong pipe (critical fail) and comes back out his nose. In a rare moment of human vulnerability, Hunter speaks of his past as a mercenary in Sudan, how he fell in love with a volunteer doctor from the States and fathered a beautiful baby girl - before both were killed by a despotic warlord. Alek files this information under 'Possible Foreshadowing of a Future Mission'.

--

ATLANTC BASE, 12:00 HOURS: Director Ludlum summons the recruits to the briefing room. He congratulates Alek and Stig on their promotion from Recruit to Operative and doubles their equipment allowance to requisition more cool shit for future missions. Speaking of future missions, the team is being sent to Spain! 'TOP SECRET! OPERATION SANGRIA SHUFFLE' reads the dossier Ludlum flings across the desk.

"Some geriatric Nazi who dodged the Hague has been making outlandish claims about a secret project to reverse engineer alien technology into a war ending super weapon," the Director explains. "As mad as that sounds, SECTOR is still required to investigate. The location of this secret laboratory is supposedly hidden in a collection of four paintings, we need to secure those paintings before CITADEL get their hands on them. Your mission is to contact a dodgy art dealer and sometime forger called Silvio Caruso, living in sunny San Sebastian. If anyone has the contacts to locate the paintings, it will be him.

"Also, Recruit Shatners-Basoon, try not to get shot again like some damn fool! And tell Professor Pearce that I know full well about the 'modifications' to his wheelchair! The cost of that rocket fuel is coming out of his salary!"

COVERT OPS - WEEK TWO/PART TWO

MADRID, 09:00 HOURS: The next day, the team touch down at the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport in Spain. Their vehicles; a jeep for Stig (plus passengers) and a dirt bike for Alek, are waiting for them in the short-stay parking area. Noel and Stanley will follow in the van*.

*At this point in the session, neither player had turned up so their characters were pushed into the background.

SAN SEBASTIAN, 14:00 HOURS: The team arrive in sunny San Sebastian after several hours on the road. It is early afternoon and the winding, cobbled lanes are thick with tourist traffic. The sails of small watercraft dot the surf around the Isla de Santa Clara. Stig taps Caruso's address into the GPS and the team soon reach his lavish beachfront property. An expensive-looking sports car is parked outside, yet there is no response when Aubrey starts banging on the front door. Creeping round the back, the team find evidence of forced entry - but this is pretty much the only thing they do find, since nobody thought to put any points into the detective skill. Rather than searching the house, the team congregate around a small, innocuous looking shed in the back garden, convinced that it hides more sinister secrets than its mundane appearance would imply. Eventually, NPC Stanley is dispatched to get the team back on track, unlocking Caruso's computer and discovering security footage of Caruso and an unknown lady-friend being abducted by a local goon squad. Aubrey runs the faces through SECTOR's database and identifies them as members of the Juliano mafia. Tony Juliano (nephew of the capo) manages a restaurant in San Sebastian, likely a front for his more illicit business dealings. Having orientated the players towards the next set-piece, NPC Stanley's work is done and he disappears in the van.

Suddenly, the doorbell rings! Peering through the curtains, Alek sees two black SUVs parked outside. After last week, the team now equate black SUVs = bad news and start dithering over whether or not to answer the summons. Meanwhile, the newcomers enter via the back door. The first is a striking woman with blonde hair and a red business suit tailored to her figure. She would be beautiful, were it not for the scar tissue disfiguring one side of her face. Beside her looms a giant of a man, seven feet tall and muscled like a bear.

"Hola. I am looking for Senor Caruso, is he home?"

Stig explains that they too are seeking Silvio and he is not here.

"Oh dear. I hope Senor Caruso is not in any trouble! I'm an admirer of his portfolio and hoped to commission a self-portrait. Do you think he would capture my good side?
"Oh, how rude of me! My name is Zoya Balalaika and this is my bodyguard Boris. Please excuse him, he's the strong, silent type."

Boris glowers.

The team introduce themselves, giving their real names like a bunch of fools.

"If you happen to find Senor Caruso, please let him know that I was looking for him," Balalaika said, "Here is my card, should you ever need to get in touch."

Stig pockets the card and the team wave Balalaika farewell as she leaves.

"She seemed nice," Alek said.

"Absolutely," Aubrey agreed, "What a charming woman, I certainly hope to see her again."

Balalaika & Boris inspired by characters from the Black Lagoon anime.

COVERT OPS - WEEK TWO/PART THREE

SAN SEBASTIAN, 18:00 HOURS: Stig parks the jeep outside 'Toni's', the mafia restaurant where Silvio Caruso is thought to be detained after Juliano thugs dragged the artist from his bed. Rather than enter the restaurant (nobody thought to reserve a table and the queue of hungry people waiting to be seated is out the door!), the team burst into the adjacent stationer's store and hold the clerk at gunpoint until he tells them how to get onto the roof (here's a hint: go up). To rub salt in the wound, they tie the poor man up with his own merchandise and dump him in a cupboard, his plight immediately forgotten!

The team jump across to the roof of the restaurant. A mafia guy hears them shuffling around up there and heads out to check, assuming the intruders to be a flock of particularly fat, clumsy seagulls. He reassesses that belief when Alek tasers him in the face. Another goon appears and Alek leaps at him. They both go crashing through a skylight into the storeroom below, where three more Juliano men were playing cards until Alek and his new friend fell through the ceiling.

"Don't forget to say something pithy," Aubrey insists over the S-Com, "How about, 'Sorry for dropping in'?"

"Sorry for dropping in." Alek says dutifully, before shooting all three goons in the head.

Tony Juliano steps onto the roof brandishing a baseball bat. He slugs Stig in the chest, breaking a couple of ribs and knocking the dazed driver off the roof. Stanley breaks into a conveniently placed fuse box and reroutes the electricity into the roof-access ladder. When Tony touches it, he is stunned.

Meanwhile, Aubrey searches Tony's office and spots a familiar face in the mob boss's broken wedding photo. The mystery woman they saw on the security footage at Caruso's home was Maria Juliano, Tony's wife. Interrogating Tony, the team learn that Maria and Silvio had been having an affair and when Tony found out, he ordered his men to take them both out beyond the Isla de Santa Clara and dump their bodies in the sea. If the team hurry, they might still be able to save them!

Racing down to the water, Stig hot-wires an unattended seaplane and puts his newfound piloting skills to good use, flying the team out to the Isla de Santa Clara. Alek spots the distinctive flash of a gunshot from the dark water. Leaning perilously out of the open hatch, he pops off a shot and kills one of the two mafia goons in the boat below. Aubrey dives out of the plane and paddles towards the idling vessel. His metal leg makes a lot of noise as he scrambles over the side and the remaining gunman gets the drop on him. Caruso lunges at the goon, giving Aubrey the opportunity to brain him with his new nun-chucks. The gunman stumbles, trips over the body of Maria Juliano and falls overboard.

Stig brings the seaplane down on the choppy surface of the water. Caruso wants to kill Tony for ordering his wife's death and not even having the balls to pull the trigger himself, but Aubrey restricts him to just beating the cuckolded husband to within an inch of his life. Aubrey then arranges for a SECTOR clean-up crew to plant evidence placing the gun that killed Maria in Tony's hands. The team return Caruso home and he begins reaching out to his network of contacts for information regarding 'The Four Knights led by Bruunhilde'. He soon learns that the four paintings are located in Japan, Russia, Libya and Germany. The team debate over which location to visit first and the GM completely forgets which one they picked*.

To be continued....

Third session scheduled for tomorrow night. The team decided to take the mission in Libya first.

OPERATION BUSTER SQUID

Location: Mediterranian Sea.

Caruso's contacts have located 'The Third Knight led by Brunnhilde' on the bottom of the Mediterranian. While laying cable along the seabed off Tripoli, french telecom company 'Globecast' stumbled upon the sunken wreckage of lost Nazi u-boat 'U-977'. The crew of 'U-977' were on a secret mission to smuggle the painting out of Germany when she disappeared without trace. The co-ordinates of the wreck are stored on the server in the 'Globecast' headquarters in Marseille, France. The first part of your mission is to infiltrate the 'Globecast' building and extract those co-ordinates from their database.
As an additional complication, SECTOR's European branch have requested that you install a virus onto the personal computer of 'Globecast' CEO Philippe Bernard. This program will create a backdoor into all of 'Globecast's' telecom services and better enable them to identify and monitor subjects of interest.

The second part of the mission is to dive to the sunken Nazi u-boat and recover the painting 'The Third Knight led by Brunnhilde' from the wreckage. Obviousy, we have no idea what condition the painting will be in, but hopefully the Nazi's had the forsight to store it in a watertight container. Your contact in Tripoli is a freelancer called Amina Bakkar, daughter of the so-called 'Pirate King' Akram Bakkar. Akram Bakkar has been tied to CITADEL operations in Libya and Amina is gathering operational intelligence in order for SECTOR to formulate a counter strategy. Her cover must not be blown, if Akram realises that she has betrayed him, her life will be forfeit, regardless of their close blood ties.

OBJECTIVES

PRIMARY: Recover 'The Third Knight led by Brunnhilde' from U-977 and deliver it for analysis at Atlantic Base [3DP].

SECONDARY: Install SECTOR virus onto the personal laptop of 'Globecast' CEO [2DP].

OPTIONAL: Do not blow Amina's cover [1DP] / Acquire intel of CITADEL operations in the Mediterranian area [1DP]

Also, new skill - NEGOTIATOR (Will/2).

• TRUCE: Roll under skill level to cause everyone in hearing range to cease fighting for one round - or until someone does something to break the truce. Will only work once per combat.
• SURRENDER: When all seems lost, roll under skill level to negotiate the terms of your surrender.
• FAST TALK: Roll under skill level to persuade someone to provide you with an item, service or piece of information that they might not ordinarily volunteer.
• DISTRACT: Keep someone engaged in conversation and reduce the chance of them noticing something going on nearby.

Thoughts?

Covert Ops – Session Three/Part One (16/03/2017)

• Andy C – Alek Trevelyan
• Andy S – Aubrey Shatners-Basoon
• Steve – Noel Bradley

ATLANTIC BASE, 0300 HOURS: While the rest of the team are debriefed on their last mission, Stig is whisked off to the medical bay to receive treatment for his busted ribs. The business card he was given by Zoya Balalaika triggers the security sensors and Professor Pearce discovers it has been coated with a transparent nanogel tracker. The card is destroyed and the team work with Mia to create a composite sketch of Balalaika and her hulking bodyguard. Running the image through SECTOR’s facial recognition database produces no hits on Balalaika, but Boris turns up as former KGB, presumed KIA. It is assumed that both culprits are now high ranking agents of CITADEL.

For their next mission, the team are heading to Libya to recover the first painting from the wreckage of U-977, a sunken Nazi u-boat on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. This will be the team’s first underwater mission and they are given a crash course in advanced sub-aquatic combat by legendary SECTOR agent Damon Welch (one of the Rank 3 pre-made operatives from the book). Mia (accompanied by recruits Cooper & Madsen) also dives, tasked with calibrating the sonar array suspended beneath the rig. Stig does not participate in the training due to his injuries and Stanley feigns illness because his WoW guild are raiding the Magma Core.

MARSEILLE, FRANCE, 1700 HOURS: Before the team can dive to the wreck of U-977, they need to learn where it sank. A French telecom company stumbled upon the submarine while laying cable along the seabed off Tripoli; the co-ordinates of the find are stored on their secure server at Globecast HQ in Marseille. Additionally, the team have been given a virus to install onto the personal laptop of CEO Philippe Bernard, granting SECTOR backdoor access to Globecast’s worldwide telecom infrastructure.

To lay hands on a building pass, Alek & Aubrey waylay a group of Globecast employees leaving the office.

“Pardon moi,” Aubrey said, in broken French, “Can you direct us to the… how you say, train station?”

While Aubrey distracts the suits with an unwieldy map (of Spain), Alek utilizes his new thief skills to liberate a pair of pass’. Masquerading as visitors from the UK branch, they negotiate a ten minute window to speak with Philippe Bernard. The CEO turns out to be a stocky, silver haired patriarch in his mid-fifties. He was clearly readying to leave the office and his manner is a little harried as Alek and Aubrey are ushered into his presence.

“Ah, gentlemen. My receptionist tells me you are from the UK branch. Where is that again?”

“Er…” said Aubrey, as Noel frantically googles that information from the van, “Milton Keynes, of course.”

“Unfortunately, nobody seems to have known that you were coming and I have a pressing engagement elsewhere. Perhaps we can reschedule this meeting for tomorrow?”

“We understand that your time is valuable Monsieur Bernard, this will only take a moment,” Aubrey said, steering the CEO away from his desk, “We wanted to talk to you about our vision for the Globecast business strategy in 2017. A company is like a big…”

“Flower?” suggested Noel over the S-com.

“…flower. It may not need water or sunlight to survive, like an actual plant, but it stills needs a nurturing hand to encourage growth. Allow me to elaborate…”

Bernard seems to be buying into Aubrey’s weird metaphor, so Alek seizes the chance to stealthily extract the CEO’s personal computer from its carry-case and insert the infected memory stick. The SECTOR virus is successfully transferred and Alek slips the laptop back into its case then clears his throat noisily.

“Is that the time?!” Aubrey exclaimed, “We wouldn’t want you to miss your engagement on our account. We’ll reschedule with your secretary and continue this another day.”

Bernard grabs his laptop and rushes toward the elevator. Now the team just need to access the server and retrieve the co-ordinates for the wreck of U-977. Aubrey convinces Bernard’s secretary to give them a tour of the building. They are guided through a series of interchangeable offices until Aubrey spots a sign for the server room.

“Ooh, what’s in there?”

The tour detours to the server room, where a middle-aged technician launches into a sixty minute presentation on the company’s digital objectives. Halfway through the Power Point, it dawns on Aubrey that the virus they just installed onto Bernard’s laptop should theoretically give them remote access to the server. NPC Stanley confirms this to be true and downloads the submarine co-ordinates from the van. Aubrey is about to leave when Alek starts asking questions about how Brexit will affect the Globecast business strategy and they get stuck there for another 45 minutes.

Covert Ops – Session Three/Part Two

TRIPOLI, LIBYA, 1000 HOURS: Armed with the co-ordinates to U-977, the team fly to Tripoli and rendezvous with their contact, Amina Bakkar. The daughter of 'Pirate King' Akram Bakkar is a feisty tomboy with oil-smeared hands and messy bob of brown hair. Her little boat looks like it was frankensteined together from bits of other, better boats.

“She’s a little rusty, but she floats just fine.” Amina says defensively, as the team come aboard, “My father is away plundering the shipping lanes, but we need to get this done before he returns to port. I hope you fellows know how to swim.”

The scuba gear is stowed below deck and the little boat is soon chuntering off across the sparkling blue surface of the Mediterranean.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA, 1400 HOURS: The team change into their wetsuits en-route to the dive spot. They slip into the balmy water and descend towards the sunken wreck, which has come to rest on the precipice of a dark, yawning trench in the ocean floor.

“Of course it has,” Aubrey groans.

Alek applies his considerable brawn to opening the entry hatch on the submarine’s conning tower. The team enter the wreck and discover that despite significant damage to the exterior, the vessel is still watertight. The air inside is stale and close. Desiccated Nazi corpses leer from the claustrophobic shadows like some sort of racially insensitive ghost train. Noel finds the painting clutched in the bony grip of a long-dead Gestapo officer and prises the piece from the skeleton’s chalky fingers. Alek claims the Nazi’s sidearm (a Luger) to add to his growing collection of unusual guns. Once the team are done violating the Nazi’s underwater tomb, they prepare to return to the surface with their booty. Rather than simply leave the same way they came in, Aubrey opts to be fired out of the torpedo tube instead.

Emerging suddenly and with considerable momentum, it’s difficult to discern who is more surprised; Aubrey or the team of CITADEL divers deploying from a small submersible. One diver is particularly shocked, as Aubrey spears him through the torso with his sword-leg. The clear water is stained red by the man’s blood and deep in the oceanic crevasse, the nostrils of a 1,100kg predatory fish begin to twitch. The hatch in the conning tower flips open and Alek emerges, discharging his spear-gun into the chest of the nearest goon. The spear ruptures his air tank and the wounded mook jets off in a stream of bubbles. The sudden movement attracts the shark, which snatches the man up in its monstrous jaws and rends him limb from bloody limb.

“Bloody hell!” Noel cries, “I think we just found Nemo!”

“I’ll distract the fish,” Alek tells Noel, “You get the painting back to the boat!”

“What do you need me to do?” Aubrey asks.

“See if you can’t do something about that submersible, there’s a good chap.”

Alek reloads his spear-gun and takes aim at the shark. He pulls the trigger and drives a spear into the fish’s corpse-pale underbelly. The shark thrashes in the water and begins circling the battle, black eyes scanning for this dangerous new challenger. Noel seizes his chance to begin swimming for the surface. As the rises, he spots the underside of a second, larger boat moored alongside Amina’s vessel.

“Er… guys, I think Amina’s dad is here.”

Meanwhile, Aubrey paddles toward the CITADEL sub. The enemy divers shoot at him with their spear-guns until the rampaging shark forces them to scatter. Aubrey emerges from the moon pool and kills the two CITADEL technicians operating the vessel. He then stares uncomprehendingly at the baffling array of levers and switches, button and dials spread across the control console. Reaching for his SECTOR phone, Aubrey dials Stig’s number and waits for the injured driver to pick up.

“Hello Stig, old bean. Hope the ribs are on the mend.”

“Aubrey? I thought you were on a mission?”

“That’s kind of why I’m calling actually. Do you know how to pilot a submarine?”

It turns out that, no, Stig does not know how to pilot a submarine, but he manages to find an instructional video on Youtube and talks Aubrey through the rudiments. It takes Aubrey a few minutes to get to grips with the controls, but he soon establishes which lever makes the submarine ascend and gives it a tug. The lever break off in his hand (critical fail on an unskilled Pilot check, which he should not have been allowed to make in the first place).

“Oh, sh*tbuckets.”

The submersible begins to rise, picking up speed as it closes on the underside of Akram Bakkar’s ship. With a calamitous crash, the sub smashes through the hull and into the engine room. Pirate engineers stare in horror as the ocean rushes in through the hole. Aubrey waves cheerfully through the little porthole as they flee for the lifeboats.

Alek and Noel reach the surface and clamber back into Amina’s little boat. Alek immediately notices that some bastard has rigged it to explode. The timer has been set to 05:00 minutes. There is no sign of Amina.

“Can you disarm it?” Noel asks.

“Probably, but why bother?” Alek replies, detaching the bomb, “Waste not, want not.”

Alek kicks off his flippers and starts rummaging in his infiltrator pack. Attaching sticky cups to his hand & feet, he scales the side of Akram Bakkar’s (sinking) ship and throws the bomb into the hold. Then he spots the so-called ‘Pirate King’ bundling his daughter into the wheelhouse, sighs and draws his pistol. Alek bravely shoots Akram in the back while the Pirate King’s attention is elsewhere. Akram roars in pain and counter-attacks with twin machetes, the wicked blades carving slabs of flesh from Alek’s arms and chest.

“I like my meat rare, you white devil!” Akram crows, in what is possibly a rather racist depiction of the rich and diverse Arabic culture.

Before Akram can finish the job, Noel charges up the gangplank and shoots out both of his kneecaps. The pirate king collapses in a puddle of blood and bone splinters, spitting unfathomable Libyan curses (“wakanat walidatik alhamisitar waldduk tafawwah minha rayihat alttawt”). Alek pick himself up, aims his spear-gun at Akram’s head and pulls the trigger.

“Do you think he got the point?” Alek asks.

“Yeah,” Noel answers, “I can see it sticking out of his skull.”

“That was a rhetorical question,” Alek explains wearily, “It was supposed to sound cool.”

Meanwhile, Aubrey assaults the wheelhouse single-handedly, tossing in a couple of smoke grenades to provide cover. As the pirates stumble around, blind and grasping, he extracts Amina and helps her reach her own little boat. She fires up the engine just as Alek and Noel leap onto the deck. In the hold of Akram’s vessel, the time-bomb reaches 00:00 and the whole ship disappears in a ball of flame!

The team head back to Tripoli, having successfully recovered the first of the four paintings required find the secret laboratory!

To be continued….

The group decided to tackle Russia next (week).

OPERATION WINTER THUNDER

Location: Moscow, Russia

Caruso's contacts have located 'The Second Knight led by Brunnhilde' in Russia. The painting is in the private collection of retired Soviet general Kirill Barisov. It is believed that Barisov claimed the painting - among other pieces - as spoils of war when the Russian army captured Berlin in 1945. Unfortunately, SECTOR has been unable to locate General Barisov or his collection and it is unlikely that our counterparts in GRU will share that information willingly.

However, while we have been unable to locate the General, we have located his daughter Katerina Barisov, who is studying ballet at the Bolshoi Academy in Moscow. Katerina is performing in Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake', this should present you with the opportunity to approach her and extract information regarding her father's whereabouts.

Once you have located General Barisov, secure the painting 'The Second Knight led by Brunnhilde' and deliver it to Atlantic Base for analysis. Obviously you will be operating in Russia without the GRU's knowledge and it would be best for international relations if your activities on Soviet soil went unremarked by the Kremlin.

OBJECTIVES

PRIMARY: Locate the collection of General Kirill Barisov and retrieve 'The Second Knight led by Brunnhilde' for analysis at Atlantic Base.
SECONDARY: Complete your mission without raising suspicions that your presence in Russia is sanctioned by SECTOR [2DP].
OPTIONAL: Do not harm/kill Katerina Barisov [1DP] / Do not kill General Kirill Barisov [1DP] / Acquire intel on CITADEL operations in Russia [1DP].