To Catch a Mockingbird, Operation Dissonant Cadance Options

[TheOneRonin]

After Geller leaves the room, Cmdr. Haney shakes her head and addresses the team.

"I know we all agree that Geller is a shitbag, but the mission does call for el Sinsonte's elimination. However, we don't have specifics on how, or at what time that elimination is to occur. For example, he could be killed while sitting in a holding cell after his interrogation. As far as I am concerned, the exact method and timing of Sinsonte's elimination is at the discretion of Col Mosby, as he will be the highest ranking agent on the ground."

"Anyone have any more questions?"

[Galedeep]

[Ivan Beckett]

"Getting information first shouldn't be a problem, if we're in a position to take him out. Digging his brain for information can be taken care of, though of course the longer we have, the better. As soon as possible, I'd like to go over our identities and study up on them, as well as spending a good portion of the next several days binding spirits and getting ready for the ops. Once we've discussed the particulars of our 'shadowrunning' teams history, gotten equipped, and dissected the intel...seems like we're set."

Looking around, Ivan smiled. It was nice to be in the thick of things...though working with someone like Geller rankled him. People like that always managed to give the impression that everyone around them were only there to please, and hardly mattered at all; anyone in the room could have taken the arrogant son-of-a-gun out in a few moments, and hidden it so well no one would ever know. In fact...no, it was a nice thought...but, after all, we are the good guys.

[TheOneRonin]

"I think that's a good idea, Beckett," Cmdr Haney said with a smile. "As soon as those idents are complete I'll make sure you all get the data. "

"Study hard...7 days may seem like a lot of time, but you have a LOT of work ahead of you. Good luck, and godspeed."

With that, Cmdr. Haney leaves the briefing room.

[Cthulhudreams]

[Mosby]

John shakes his head as the Director strolls out the door. Temper Temper, and I find that omission deeply ironic. What is more worrying is a goddamn leak. None of this is going to fly if he knows we are coming.

When Ivan makes his commentary about information, Mosby nods, shrugs expressively and says "It depends on the nature of the opportunity that presents itself, but a low risk kill with a car bomb is likely to be 'cleaner' than an extraction. It is going to depend on how the situation develops and what an acceptable risk profile is. I'll prefer an extraction if the risk is acceptable." However I don't want to get anyone needlessly shot up.

"I'll task Rozenko with drones and surveillance when he gets back. I have no further questions, but I expect questions may arise as we get to grips with the intelligence and the identities required. If so we'll be in touch."

As the Commander leaves, Mosby turns to the rest of the team and says "That was certainly interesting. I'm not entirely happy about the 'kill other CAS citizens' part, especially as the mark is a terrorist who seems to like high profile splashy carnage."

and I think, or atleast I hope, that I'm not the only one too.

"I know that not everyone will be happy about it, but I think we should try and minimise the kill count. Well... the parts of the kill count that have CAS citizenship. While I'm willing to eat some collateral damage, I see that low profile insertions/extractions and non lethal weaponry will be important. What really worries me is the splashy terrorist aspect. " With a nod towards Byrne he continues "I think striking a balance between penetrating the inner circle and not actually conducting a terrorist bombing is going to be a big issue."

Mosby then leans back in his chair, waiting to see what the others think.

[Fortune]

[Ashley]

During the course of the briefing, the elf's grin had slowly faded. He knew, of course, that there would be some bitching about the orders to kill almost indiscriminately, but deep down Ashley knew those orders to be correct. "Mission first!" was exactly right in this situation. He was therefore ready when John proposes a more non-lethal approach.

Sitting forward once again, the chair legs hammering against the floor, Ashley shakes his head vehemently.

"Y'all don't get it! These here are terrorists we're talkin' 'bout. Azzie-connected terrorists at that! They ain't gonna be attracted to no wimpy do-gooders too squeamish to do what needs t'be done."

He pauses to take a deep breath, wishing there was something more he could do to illustrate his point.

"I ain't sayin' we should be just wastin' people left, right, 'n' center, but we sure as hell need to be attractin' the right attention, or it's all goin' t'be a waste o' time."

Pausing once again to look around the table at his team mates, Ashley tries to meet each of their gazes before continuing.

"I'm thinkin' that this right here is a damn sight bigger decision than whether or not we'll off the dude when we get the chance. We gotta get there first, and you can trust me on this ... he ain't gonna be interested in half measures."

[Cthulhudreams]

[Mosby]

John gives Ash a rueful smile and says "Yeah, I know. He's a big splashy man who likes big splashy death. My problem is I don't want to be an Azzie connected terrorist. I'm hoping Byrne can steer us on the course between mission success and not massacring people. However, if we have to shoot people, well, we have to do that."

[Mister Juan]

[Byrne]

When Geller answered him, Vincent took his best business-like attitude. He listened carefully and intensively to every single word, nodding here and there a few times, and jotting down some things. As soon as the DSI director was out the door, the Special Agent let out one, long and loud sigh, probably voicing what everyone was thinking. He had seen enough of Director Geller to know that something was definitely up. Odds were the others had picked up on a few things, but he'd have to inform Mosby about it... but in private... later. There was no need to affects everyone's morale.

As the Commander made her final request for questions, Vincent simply nodded “no� and went back to writing down whatever he was writing down. He'd need to start working up profiles for all their targets, as well as study all the case files concerning El Sinsonte. Seven days might have seemed like a lot of time, but the profiler knew very well he'd have to sift through probably thousands of pages and photographs.

When Mosby acknowledge his uneasiness about killing “innocents�, Vincent was a bit reassured. His team leader knew him well... well enough to know that the cop would probably never pull the trigger at someone who didn't deserve it. If it ever came to such a situation, Vincent knew very well the others wouldn't hesitate. He'd have to trust them... There was simply no way he could carry the guilt... There was simply no way he could go against every single thing he had ever stood for.

“Well Sergent� started Vincent, rubbing the bridge of his nose in a tired fashion “I do believe we should at least try to minimize civilian casualties as much as possible. I've dealt with many cases involving shadowrunners, and contrary to what the mass media has shown, most prime teams and individuals fill very little bodybags. It attracts too much attention. It's bad for business. I believe a person like El Sinsonte will judge us more by our efficiency to remain anonymous and off the grid, rather than our aptitude to ruthlessly meet every issue with lethal force.�

He twirled his fountain pen in his hand a few times.

“I'll use what prep time we have to come up with a profile for our target. I will probably refine it in the field with the intel we'll be able to gather first hand. Hopefully, it will enable us to behave exactly like people El Sinsonte would be interested in.�

Vincent turned his attention to Mosby.

“Col Mosby, with your approval, I'll try to work up detailed profiles on the two fixers, as well as prepare a summarized overview of the different criminal elements we might encounter in the areas we're likely to operate in. We're supposed to be criminals ourselves... and so, we'll need to know who's who and such if we don't want to look like fish out of the water.�

[Fortune]

[Ashley]

The tension in his muscles easing, Ashley's whole posture relaxes ever so slightly at John's response. He leans back again on the back legs of the chair, releasing the breath that he wasn't even aware of holding and nods. Before he could answer though, Vincent speaks up, and his brief reassurance is shattered.

"I get that it ain't pleasant. My point is that it'll even less pleasant if'n it's all for nothin'. The way I see it, we only got one shot, an' we can't afford t' screw it up."

He looks directly into the former cop's eyes, hoping to get him to understand.

"You heard the man. "Mission First!", he said, and he's right. How many 'innocents' die if we fail? You willin' t' spend the next year 'r two chasin' shadows for nothin', all 'cause you were not ready and able to do what needs t'be done?"

[Mister Juan]

[Byrne]

Vincent leaned forward towards the table, getting a little closer with Ashley.

"Believe me Sergent, I am as ready and able as you are. What I am not, is willing. Contrary to you, I have been trained to protect and save lives, not take them. If it comes to it, and there are no ways out, I will pull the trigger like anyone else in this room. What I refuse is to employ deadly force and the first and only means of reaching our goals."

[Galedeep]

[Ivan Beckett]

"Calm down, Ashley, no one is suggesting we pull punches if that will mess up the mission, or even lessen our odds of success in any way. But it is easier, and more efficient, to drop random security guards, passerbys, corporate stooges...whatever, with non-lethal force. Popping a few will likely happen whether we like it or not; you take someone down hand to hand, there's always the chance they fall wrong and break their neck. You hit someone with a stunbolt, there's always a chance they don't hold up to it well, and it hits them so hard they don't wake up, or they pass out and fall off of a bridge, or what have you. Point is, we can at least avoid kills, even if we are forced to maim or injure; if we can't avoid kills, we do it quickly, quietly, and hopefully as painlessly as possible. All for the greater good, however painful the numbers may be."

Ivan scratched his chin, his fingers running through his thick beard. "As long as we are all agreed that, when push comes to shove, we do our job, then we won't have a problem. We'll be judged on efficiency, but it may well come to a test, where he tries to see if we'll kill at his command. Lots of guys like this do things like that; they like loyalty. The like it a lot. I doubt anyone in here wouldn't do their job in that situation, however difficult it would be, so I don't think it requires much more talking, at least not on that subject."

Tapping his foot, he grunts and turns to Samantha. "At any rate, the magicians have their work cut out for them. You have any spirits bound, Sammy? We might as well fill out our rosters, as best we can before we have to get kicked out of the labs with only as much refined radical charcoal as we can stuff into our pockets. I've just got the one right now, Azrameth. Might want to see what we can see on the Astral as well, send out a few feelers."

[Cthulhudreams]

[Mosby]

John nods and says "The chief has it in one." He then waits for Ivan to finish, before injecting again

"You're forgetting the really big issue at hand Ivan. You've got 7 days to learn enough to someone else on cue. I'd suggest everyone makes it priority number one to get down to HQ and pick up that cover identity. You're going to need to know it pretty damn well, and I'd request that you get everyones profile and skim over them as well.

Lastly, in the last couple of days before we ship out everyone is going to spend some quality time with the intelligence we have on hand, and additional content Byrne or myself have created. We'll have to carry that stuff in our head, and if someone gets hit by a bus, someone else better damn well know it.

Otherwise, you heard her, lets roll. I'll brief Nick when get gets in."

[Fortune]

[Ashley]

He meets Vincent's intense gaze with one of his own, and takes a breath to respond, but before he gets the chance, Ivan speaks up.

Ashley violently pushes his chair back and starts to pace the length of the room, disgusted at being dismissed so readily by the mage, and then again by his leader.

"Like I said, y'all just don't get it! Our goal is t' win the heart of an international terrorist. He just ain't gonna give the time o' day t' some pansy ass hippies who's first response is non-lethal in nature. Seriously! Think about it!"

He pauses as he gets to the end of the room, taking a breath as he turns and plunging on before someone else can interrupt.

"I ain't sayin' we jus go out an' do some drive-by's an' the like. I am saying that the non-lethal crap should only be used when there is a definite need for the non-lethal crap. Otherwise, we need to look like we mean bizness, 'cause word gets 'round, an' you can be bettin' that every little detail'll get back to the Big Bad Terror Dude out there."

Ashley stops pacing and leans on the back of an empty chair, once again trying to meet everyone's gaze. He shakes his head in frustration once again before continuing in a slightly less agitated manner.

"I wish Nick wuz here, 'cause he'd be the first t' back me up on this, an y'all know it."

[Galedeep]

[Ivan Beckett]

Sighing, Ivan just shrugs to Ashley. "I see it differently. I'm not disagreeing with you, man, just disagreeing with implementation. We have to look ruthless, but I don't think we need to look messy. Whatever you think his motivations may be, Vince had a point there, and I think you're letting your personal worries about your teammates performance or moral hangups affect your judgement. I said calm down because you aren't being rational; trust us, like we trust you, and we'll all be better for it." Letting it go at that, Ivan inwardly shakes his head. Ashley is a man of action, and passions; I wish he didn't go off like this, but he is who he is. Good man to work with...frustrating sometimes, when he argues with you even when you agree to a certain extent, but a good man to work with. Hope he doesn't get too pissed at my tone, but there's stuff got to be done. No time to pussyfoot.

Nodding to the team leader, Ivan snaps off a surprisingly formal salute, given his usual relaxed attitude in less showy surroundings, and stands. "I'll have to see what magic they want me to look like I'm using to determine which spirits I bring with me anyway; if I go as a hermetic, that'll limit me to elementals...well, that doesn't mean much to you fellows, but the identity is the most important part of preparation for more than just the normal reasons. I'll get that stuff picked up, then be in the Astralabs, if anyone needs me. Sammy, you coming?" he asks over his shoulder as he stands.

"If anyone needs anything, or wants to go over our new selves in a group setting," he says with an ironic grin, "just give me a buzz. Getting our identities right for ourselves is big, but we need to know each other just as well in our new careers as we already do in our old. Pizza in one of the meeting rooms tonight? Might as well make it a little enjoyable, before we go off into the privation of criminal life."

[Fortune]

[Ashley]

The dark-haired elf just shakes his head once more. He draws a deep breath to answer the mage, but lets it out again unused. Instead Ashley turns to survey the others in the room, desperately seeking some small sign that even one of them understood the importance of what he was trying to tell them, absolutely frustrated that he lacked the ability to put his thoughts into the proper words at the proper times like some of the others.

[Cthulhudreams]

[Mosby]

Mosby is deadly seriously and snaps to Ashley "Ash, look, I understand your concern. I bloody well share it too. However, Bryne is the psychologist. If in his professional opinion after assessing what we know about this guy we need to kill people, then damn straight we are going to kill people in whatever way is required. Don't worry about that."

[Mister Juan]

[Byrne]

They weren't even out in the field and things were starting to heat up... which didn't surprise Vincent that much. On an op, everyone always did what they had to do, when they had to do it, and how they were supposed to. But that was a different question when it came to opinions.

Everyone at Con Ops followed orders, no matter what.
Everyone at Con Ops had a different view about if those orders were right or wrong.

Byrne closed gathered some of his papers, closed his file and got up.

“Well, it looks to me like we all know what we have to do. If anyone needs me, I will be in my office going over our current intel and preparing briefings for everyone.�

He turned his attention to Mosby, gesturing toward the exit.

“Colonel, if you'd like to join me.�

[Fortune]

[Ashley]

Ashley's pale blue cybereyes meet those of his leader once again. His fine elven brow is still deeply furrowed with doubt, knowing that despite his words, John really doesn't quite have a grasp on their target's mindset. He knows it isn't the man's fault. He is good of a man, with all the qualities a good leader requires. And that was the problem ... he was just too good of a man to see the big picture in this case.

Casting a somewhat disparaging glance in Vincent's direction, Ash spins the chair in his grasp and straddles it in one motion, his tattoo-riddled cyberarms coming to rest on the chair's back as he slumps forward dejectedly.

It wasn't that he really thought anything less of the ex-cop or anything. Merely that he believed that Vincent should know better in this situation, being a psychologist and all. But it had to be that cop mentality getting in the way. Maybe he'd come to his senses after reviewing the data in detail, but Ash didn't hold out much hope of that happening.

[Ol' Scratch]

[Nikolai Rozhenko]
Time/Date: 1745 hours, June 9th, 2071

It had been a long flight and, while he had certainly learned a trick or two from those crazy Brits, Nick'd be damned if he wasn't glad to be home. He received Beckett's message about grouping up for pizza at the meeting room and, noting the time, decided to head to the base rather than his apartment. Then, almost as if on queue, a secured comminque arrived on a time-degrading stream as he pulled his '69 Porsche into the Bunker's parking lot. "Oh fuck," he thought as he recognized the signal, "something serious must be going down."

Nick opened the file and listened as he unpacked his shit. He slung his dufflebag over his shoulder and headed inside, playing the report a few more times as he went through all the security bells and whistles. "Heh, Ash must be wetting his knickers over this mission. Bet he's already been to the armory a half dozen times, bickering with the quartermaster." By the time the datastream dried up, he was just outside the ready room a good fifteen minutes late.

"My, what a lovely little tea party you girls've thrown together! Can I join? Can I please?!?" the old ork grinned, batting his eyelashes all pretty-like as he dropped his bag at the door.

[Galedeep]

[Ivan Beckett]

Ivan, seated in a rather comfortable chair poring over his new identity, looks up as Nick enters and grins. "Well, look what the cat dragged in...How are you, Nick?" Reaching over to grab another slice of pizza, he took a big, greasy bite, grinning all the while. He had always liked Nick; the massive ork was everything Ivan wasn't.

[Ol' Scratch]

[Nikolai Rozhenko]

"Doing all right, doing all right," Nick replies to Ivan. "And sorry about being so late, guys. You know how public transportation can be."

Nick plops down into one of the cushy seats after swiping a slice of his favorite heart-attack special (stuffed crust meat lover's with extra cheese). "So, yeah, I got a summary of the mission from Haney a few minutes ago. Any updates?"

[ZenZen]

[Sam O'Kerrigan] Location: "The Bunker" during the initial briefing&discussion


Samantha calmly followed the briefing, absorbing the sparse facts while studying the expressions of everyone present, from the obvious outrage in Director Gellers reddened face and growling voice to the finer nuances observable in those with more self-control.
So we're to become long-time terrorists in order to catch one...there really are some nasty implications in that and it's a very thin line to walk for sure. This Op is gonna be most interesting...

After Geller left and Cmdr. Haney addressed them directly, she had a hard time suppressing a wide grin.
Shitbag indeed...leave it to our revered lady of steel to find the right words for people like him and creative interpretation of orders. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Seeing all the important questions asked by her teammates, she kept her focused stance during the erupting discussion, her elbows resting on the table, fingertips touching, her unflinching face showing a relaxed smile.
As expected with an uncertain and morally ambiguous mission like this, things got pretty heated soon, as each man voiced his opinion and evaluations, with little data to base them on, had to be made.
As several of her teammates turned to leave, tension still heavy in the air, Sam finally decided to open her mouth as well.
Right. Guess it's time to patch their morale up a bit - or just sew them up...It's not like I could solve this dilemma anyway.

Slowly rising from her chair, she announces in a serious tone (a rare occurrence):

"Alright, guys. It seems you're all forgetting something important.

We all know that balancing the roles of being prospective terrorists with little regard to civilian casualties
and being ourselves, with a conscience, a sense of morale & ethics and a mission to protect our CAS and its citizens is going to be an improbably difficult feat, even bordering on the impossible.
Of course we'll all prepare for this uncertain task to the best of our abilities, especially with the psychological evaluations of our new contacts and targets and rules of conduct for Shadowrunners in general and the type of 'runners we're expected to be in particular.

But this will not change the fact that we'll be facing difficult decisions every waking hour of every fragging day when we're out there, and you know what?
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter, because we're not just exceptionally good at following orders and accomplishing a mission - you can take any SEAL, Green Beret, Night Stalker or Special Agent in their respective fields for that.
We are more special than Special Forces - for a reason:
We have been selected because we can work beyond that, because we're capable of independently adapting to any problem challenging us.
We will know what to do when the time comes, because we're the bloody best this country has to offer.

We are ConsOps!"


With that, Samantha finishes, adding a barely audible "...'nuff said." as the team scatters.

[Cthulhudreams]

[John Mosby] Location: "The Bunker" during the initial briefing&discussion @ 1340

Mosby grins broadly at Sam's speech, and nods in agreement.

"With that, team dismissed. Reconvene at 1730."

John then follows Bryne out the door, judging that the special agent urgently wants a chat, and also wanting to tell the man to spend as much time as he can with his family before the shit hits the road.

[Mister Juan]

[Byrne]
Byrne didn't utter a single word until the elevator's doors had slid closed behind them. He had a dead serious look on his face as he turned around and leaned against the back of the small elevator.

“Colonel, I don't want to already start throwing wrenches in this mission, but this isn't what it appears to be.�

With a simple mental click from his head commlink, the elevator started moving up toward the upper floors of the building.

“Geller is hiding something. I don't know exactly what yet, but when I questioned that man, he lied.... He lied and that I'm sure of it.�

He sighed heavily.

“Yes, El Sinsonte is probably the man behind those events, and he needs to be taken care of in some way... but I don't like us being used to take Geller's, and probably the DIA's garbage out.�

He pushed himself of the wall, shaking his legs a little to shake the numbness out as they reached the floor where his office was located.

“As I said, I don't have any proof, but reading people and finding out lies is my job, Colonel.... and that man was lying through his teeth when I asked him if he ever had any previous dealings with El Sinsonte...�

[Fortune]

[Ashley]

Dressed now in camouflage fatigue trousers and a black tank top with the Ares Predators team logo emblazoned across his chest, Ash sits alone in a corner punching and re-punching numbers into a data reader. A box containing two slices of pizza lay almost forgotten on the floor, and several empty soy-beer bottles lay scattered around his feet.

The elf could have done all of the calculations in his head, of course, and in fact he does do some of them automatically despite his deliberate efforts to make use of the data pad. He has found though, that he tends to concentrate better in these situations when he uses an outside source, almost as a prop of sorts.

Looking up as Nick finally arrives, he flashes the ork a warm but short-lived grin, then dives back into his gear lists.

[Cthulhudreams]

[Mosby] Lift @ 13:45

Mosby stares stoically into the middle distance as the agent speaks, then uncharacteristically slams one of his fists into the wall of the elevator in a show of frustration. Recovering his composure, Mosby turns to Byrne, shaking his head "This entire mission reeks. We're being sent out with no support into turf owned by us because of a leak in the agency, at the behest of one of the least trustworthy men I've ever met to do a mission that fills my mouth with bile thinking about, and now I'm told his lying to me. Damn."

Mosby pauses, then grins, good humor restored.

"Keep that under your hat for the moment, I'm not sure we can do anything it just yet. But between now and departure, see if you can find out. There has to be something in his Intel dossiers that will give us a clue, if it is just an unexplainable gap we can map against current events.

And on a more family friendly note.... make sure you spend some time with the kids... I'd.. yeah. I need a shower, so I'm going to get one and a change of clothes. I'll catch you to start reviewing the info we've got on both sides of the mission."