There are ways. Battery in a satchel, wires up the shirt or jacket sleeve, connected to the card. Ignore Hollywood, there won't be any big explosion or anything, maybe a tiny spark and a puff of ozone, but that's it.

If a PC had to make that Pilot Ground roll every time they went to fetch more nuke it burritos from the stuffer shack the roads would be littered with wrecks. Pilot ground doesn't matter for day to day driving. You don't roll it. It only matters for that critical crash test during the run gone bad.

Apply same to Fake SINs. If you do, the costs of fake SINs and licenses are in line.

Well, I'm a province away now anyhow.

But, frag it, I'd WANT the big Hollywood Explosion!

I hated those bloody doors! And that job.

But, yeah, back to Fake SINs... There's another provision that I don't think we've put into consideration...

Out of Country SINs! I mean, really, how likely is Lone Star going to get cooporation out of the Cascade Orks about their SIN registry. "Yeah, we know, gotta provide the SIN in as timely a fashion as possible. We'll get our filing department right on that. Estimated time for that is..." *Click* "Oh, look at that, call was disconnected. Oh well."

Hmm. There has to be a certain level of cooperation, because otherwise, CO LEOs don't get any access to Metroplex SINs and the general utility of *their* SIN checking goes to drek.

Oh, not saying there's NO level of cooperation, but the level of it is based on the politics at the time.

Good example, let's say that Knight Errant is researching a SIN for some reason, and backtraces it to Saeder-Krupp, England, a Carribean League Island, and the Cascade Orks.

By international/intercorporate law, all SIN agencies have to communicate with each other, but there'd be wiggle room in the legalese. Most likely something like, "Provide at earliest convience" or some such.

Saeder-Krupp is on good terms with Ares this week, in fact, they joined together to fight Aztechnology in a Desert Wars game, and combined some major advertising that's increasing sales for both, so doesn't mind the earliest convience being pretty fraggin' quick.

The British SIN office will provide Knight Errant with the SIN, but demands all the proper paperwork and forms be filled out first. Stuffy beurecratese is the only holdup there. But it does take a few hours for the forms, then maybe a day or two for processing time, as the processing is performed at peak processing availability (Read: At night.) because of some arcane reason stemming back to the 1980s.

The Carribean League Island has a few Ares facilities on it, and knows where it's bread is buttered, so hands over everything on this guy, his family, and asks if they want Rum with that.

The Cascade Orks, however, are rather upset with Knight Errant at the moment, having had a major shipment of California Hots they were "Legally moving to their territory via Seattle" intercepted by Knight Errant on Ares territory when the driver "got lost". They throw up every legal and technical roadblock available to them to slow down the responce, but do provide the information as they're legally required to, and don't want to have to deal with the ramifications thereof, but it takes a few days, and the office where that particular SIN is kept can only transfer the information by an old Fax Machine, which has a iffy scanner on it. "So sorry that it's almost unreadable. Oh? That's the wrong SIN? Are you sure? Oh, some digits were transposed? Ah, accidents do happen. Please reapply with the right SIN this time."

That's like UPS getting in a pissing match with the Hoover's FBI. Who loses here; KE, who can't get cooperation occasionally, or the cascade orcs, who have their "commerce" obliterated? It's really a bad idea to choose to piss off people who can fairly casually destroy you. It's a really rare trucker who has EVERY stinking t crossed and i dotted. "I'm sorry, but the pressure of your #3 tire is 2 pounds below the legal requirement, and your taillights are dirty, so I'm going to have to impound your truck for multiple safety violations. Would you like to witness our inventory of the cargo for the impound form?"

No, it isn't. First off, Knight Errant is a security company that does not have the license for patrolling city streets and intercepting trucks. That's the job of Lone Star, their competetor, which will take a distinct interest in hanky panky, and arrest the Knight Errant officers for "Obstruction of Legitimate Internal/External Trade".

And make bloody sure it gets put on the 2100 News, because it makes Knight Errant look like bullies as they're trying to get the contract for Seattle Peace Officers when it comes time for renewal.

Unless the trucks are on Ares Land, or territory that Knight Errant is contracted to protect, then it'd be EXACTLY like a mall security guard going around stopping trucks on the freeway. A Cop will come up and go, "WTF!"

Also, which shipments are from the Cascade Orks, and which is any other truck from the Salish-Shidhe Council? You start getting the Ambassador from S-SC involved if someone starts stopping all the trucks, and then you even get some of the higher-ups in Seattle's Government involved because they don't want the feelings strained any further than they already are.

Finally, don't forget the view people have of the Cascade Orks? Don't you think that's been carefully crafted? "Jeeze, those Trogs are so stupid they probably do only have the SIN information on paper! And a Fax Machine might be too complicated for their drugged-out minds to actually operate."

And, most importantly, notice that nothing was said of the most important thing to the Cascade Orks when it comes to getting things done... The Social Lubricant that makes their government work. The subtly referenced bribe. "Would a Filing Service Charge be in order?", that speeds things up indeed.

OK, this isn't some street gang I'm talking here, the Cascade Orks, for all their "Illegal Activities", are part of a legitimate government. Their actions are completely legal in their own territory, and the S-S will fight for that legality to be respected lest their own be compromised, then deal with the issue internally.

"Better to handle things in the family than let some uppity outsider think he can tell us how to do things!"

Lone Star can't stop 10 man biker gangs from "terrorizing the interstates", who is going to stop KE from enforcing the law on them?

The Metroplex Guard, once the S-S diplomatic corps get to work on the Governor. Or the UCAS military. Ares does *not* want to get in a shooting war with its customers.

Doesn't matter. Lone Star has jurisdiction. That's a big deal in the SW. Just like how the FBI doesn't go around handing out traffic tickets, KE shouldn't be intercepting smugglers on the highway.

Just look at the pissing matches that the cops get into with the FBI or other agencies in TV shows like CSI or Law and Order. Even in RL the 9/11 commission report blamed lack of communication between agencies as one of the reasons the plot wasn't stopped.

Now multiply that rivalry and bureaucratic mumbojumbo by about a thousand. The Federal Police in the Cascades don't want to help out KE. KE has spent the last 15 years trying to offer a contract to the government. The orks would loose their seniority at least, and likely their jobs if that happened.

London has a KE contract but it still moves a bit slow just because the officers there are overworked with their own problems. A gang war is heating up and there've been half a dozen shootouts between gang members in C or better rated neighborhoods in the past week, a 'civilian' got killed in the last one and the papers have been harping about it.

Even the Carib League probably would have problems. After all, the SIN there is likely tracking back to a 'privately owned investment firm'. It takes them 3 days just to get through to the firms office. Then the company quietly gets 'bought' so it's PO box shifts, and the investigators can't get a hold the new owners so they eventually just give up.

As far as SK goes, even if their relationship with Ares is as frosty as usual they still might move pretty quick. Maybe this SIN has come up with red flags on their system before, nothing terribly compromising and it's not worth investing resources into tracking down but hey, if someone else is willing to deal with it, why not.

Exactly. This heads into the levels of Politics. Again, the Cascade Orks is *NOT* a gang, it's a TRIBE and part of a Legitimate Government. One that has strained relations with Seattle at the bestof times.

And, legally, they are "Cooporating" with Knight Errant/Ares. It will happen, just not as fast as KE wants it to, and full of hassle.

Ares can, and probably does the exact same thing to the Cascade Orks when they order from the Knight Errant Security Catalogue.

One thing worth bearing in mind re: alien SINs. Visas and other residence permits.

Often, if two political entities are at loggerheads, citizens of one residing in another must register with the authorities. Consequently Ares don't need to deal directly with the Cascade Orc tribe, but can query the Seattle Metroplex about alien SINs. If your SIN is there illegally expect immigration police to come knocking on your door to deport your illegal alien behind, even if the SIN is not legit.