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(TFM calls in the heavy HITTERS to deal with a resistant foe) A note from the Director of Security at TFM: I had agonized for quite some time as to whether or not I would allow this TFM mission log to be declassified. Frankly, it was not considered a shining moment by our Leaders. In addition, what happened during the end of this mission was very violent, and disturbing. Although our operatives completed the mission, the manner in which it was done called into question whether or not our organization should have been allowed to continue. One of our key operatives ended up in prison. Innocent lives were lost. Several of our front line troops are still in counseling. Ever since this mission, we've made significant changes in our use of force doctrines. We have to ensure that something like this never happens again. And yet...it did happen, and it would not be fair unless we give you the complete picture. So I provide it to you unedited. I simply ask that you review it with objectivity, and understanding; we are only human. Our passions sometimes get the better of us. And everyone makes mistakes. We thought we were acting in the best interests of everyone involved. And in the end, there really was no other way.
Mission Log: decrypted by Chief of Communications 5-23-99 |
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Who would have thought it could have ended up this way? It was a bright, sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. Perfect weather for getting a tan. I was clad in my sport top, khakis, and a pair of sandles, my raybans hanging off my right front shirt pocket. We're in the parking lot of a Jack in the Box, a fast-food place similar to the McDonalds back in my hometown.To my right is the operations vehicle, an unassuming little gray minivan, packed with any manner of junk that could be fit into it by its owner, who insisted that there was a use for all of it. I took him at his word; who am I to question what he thinks he needs? Behind it sat a rather bulky 60's hearse. Nothing fancy about it; kept in good shape, but wierd looking. Luckily, what it lacks in looks, it makes up for in cargo-hauling capacity. I still think it's wierd, though. But then again, so is the car I'm currently driving, a copper-colored 70's muscle car. And finally, parked next to it, a 90s BMW. Nice, very nice, and out of place in this motley bunch. Just like it's owner at times, who currently sits on the hood polishing a gun. It still amazes me that he doesn't get a second glance with it so out in the open. I'm told that this is the order of the day in this city, but I still believe it. Now if this were LA, only 90 miles or so from here, I'd believe it. As it is, though...ah, well. I take them at their word.
The mission is a routine one...or was, anyways. Even if you can consider what we do, "routine," this mission just went into the crapper. There were eight of us here a short while ago. Now we're down to five. Myself, Jerunski, and Rjung near the operations vehicle. PalZe scouting from across the street. And TFX-1, sitting there on the hood of his car, polishing that damn gun. The other three are nowhere in sight. But I have a damn good idea of where they went. Across the street. To our target for today. Without waiting for orders. Christ, I can't even take five minutes to go to the bathroom and check in with HQ without my team falling apart. How we got chosen to be matched up for this is anyone's guess. No, strike that. I know HOW. It was usually only a once a year thing, but we all happened to be in the same area at the same time. It made sense for the higher ups to team us up for this. As to WHY we were chosen...well, that's easy. We're the best of the best: Special Operatives for the TF Militia. But I digress... |
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Boss>..."shit! Who the fuck allowed her in there!? I didn't give authorization! We weren't ready!!" The mission leader was furious. Nothing had gone right after the scouts report. None of us could believe what we read, and I guess it affected some more than others. Discipline was hard enough to maintain among the various operatives, and this report just made it worse. The rank and file were thrown into a frenzy. We'd never run into anything quite like it, and some of us took it real hard. A few people decided to take matters into their own hands before we had our game plan set up, which is why the boss is fuming right now. Insubordination is something we didn't have experience with. It never happened until today. I wish we had never given that report to the rest of the troops. The details should have been kept quiet. Boss>..."Goddammit, why can't she follow orders! PalZe, status!" PalZe>"Sir, Rachael, RedAlert, and RC have entered the store now. The spybot's transmission was interrupted, so I'm not getting anything from inside." Boss>"Son of a...we need than transmission restored now! Jerunski, what's the problem?" Jerunski>"I lost the uplink from the satellite. Near as I can figure, Cellulink must have discovered we were pirating bandwidth, and shut us out." Boss>"Can we get it reestalished?" Jerunski>"Not from the satellite. But presuming the spybot is still transmitting, I should be able to get the audio signal in on this portable scanner. Thank God for Radio Shack..." Boss>"after this is over, one of your tech guys needs to explain to me why we needed the satellite in the first place." Jerunski>"For visuals, and long-range monitoring requires that we..." Boss> (cutting him off) "Later! I need to know what's going on in that store NOW!"
Jerunski> (twiddling a few knobs on his scanner)"frequency isolated. You can listen in now." |
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Transmission from scanner] RC>"..I find it highly illogical that you would charge $1400 for a Menasaur giftset in this condition, especially since it only cost $50 at Toys R Us a few years ago" dealer>"Hey lady, transformers are HOT right now! They're going for that much. Lots of people want them. Why, I have seven people in here all the time buying transformers from me who are willing to pay that much to capture a piece of their childhood." Rachael>"You lying piece of shit! I know goddamn well that you have only two people coming in who want these, and they can't afford to pay that much!" RC>"Rachael, PLEASE! Look sir, I see you have a copy of Lee's AFN right next to the cash register. I believe if you look up the giftset in there, it will clearly state that the unit only goes for $350 right now in most markets. Perhaps you just read the guide wrong?" dealer>"Listen sweetheart, I know what the guide says, and I know what I can get for this. Besides, the guides usually wrong. What do they know? If someone wants it bad enough, they'll cough up the bread." Rachael>(leaning over the counter and grabbing the dealer by the neck)"You worthless little fuck, who are you trying to fool here? You think we don't know? You think you're just dealing with some little punk off the street who doesn't know any better? We've been watching you, you little worm, and we know what you're up to!" RC>(trying to pry Rachael's hand off the dealer's neck)"What are you doing? Let him go! This isn't what we agreed upon!" Rachael>(pushing RC away with her other hand)"Shut up, RC! You tried talking to him, and he's too stupid to understand. Typical male. Now we do this my way." RC>"But the boss said.." Rachael>(cutting tut off)"Don't bring HIM into this! We both know that he didn't even authorize this! You and RedAlert agreed with me that we shouldn't just sit and wait for instructions, that the time to act was now! The scout's report was quite clear, wasn't it?" RC>"Well, yes, but.." dealer>(gasping and clawing at Rachael, who's holding him off the floor at arms length)"You bitch! Let me go! Let me go!" Rachael>(clubs the dealer over the head)"But nothing! RC, go turn off the lights. RedAlert, bar the door. We're going to make this little puke understand what he's gotten himself into."
[sounds of scuffling, and of something heavy being dragged across the floor] |
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Boss>" I don't hear anything." Jerunski>"That's because they stopped talking." Boss>(clearly ticked)"Smartass. PalZe, can you see anything from where you are?" Palze>"Not anymore. Lights just went out." Boss>"Dammit! I KNEW we shouldn't have timed this for BotCon. Everyone's too keyed up to maintain discipline. Someone should have tried to talk J and K out of this beforehand. Ok, people, I need options, and I need them now." PalZe>"Sir, we could go into the store ourselves and get them out." Boss> "Oh sure, so the dealer could have more faces to pick out of a line up? I don't think so. It hasn't come to that yet. He doesn't need to know how many of us are in on it. Somebody else?" Rjung>"Can we send a signal inside thru the spybot? Perhaps if we could talk to them, we could calm things down before they get worse."
TO BE CONTINUED... |
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CONTINUED. Flashback: The TF Militia members are involved in a mission that has gone wrong. A review of events indicated one unforseen problem during the planning session: all the field troops involved were under unusual amounts of stress from the excitement of the BotCon convention. Caught up in the excitement and comradery, several operatives are behaving irrationally, to the detriment of the rest of the troops. They are trying desperately to get the situation under control before everything is lost. |
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Boss>"I like the idea. Diplomacy first, people. How about it, Jerunski? You build that thing to do it?" Jerunski>(with a grin)"A cusory evaluation of the spybot indicates a distinct tactical efficiency on my part." Boss>(cracking a smile)" I'll take that as a yes. Why did we ever sit thru the movie screening a second time?" Rjung>"because I had control of the projector." Boss>"Oh, yea, there was that. How long before I can send a message in?" Jerunski>"About 5 minutes. (starts babbling while he works) I have to rework this scanner to allow me to transmit on the same frequencies it recieves. Luckily, Radio Shack also sells the parts and diagrams for this procedure, allowing anyone to make the modification. I should warn you, the FCC has made this a crime. We could be facing a stiff fine. (fiddles some more, plugs in a mic) There. Finished. I wonder why they sell the parts and plans to do this if it's illegal? Boss>"It's part of the conspiracy to get you in trouble. They like to monitor people who spend way too much time at Radio Shack." Rjung>(whispering to the Boss)"I wouldn't say that to him; he might just believe it, and take the thing apart again."
Boss>(nodding head)"But look at it this way, Jerunski; it's better getting slapped with a fine for illegal use of radio than land jail time for assult and battery, so it's in a good cause. Give me the mic, and let's see if this works." |
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The boss grabbed the mic and began transmitting his voice thru the spybot in the store. The spybot was a stroke of genius on the part of TFM: A small toy, implanted with electronics, and placed in a store we wanted to do a surveillance on. Blends in perfectly with it's surroundings, and with the mess most stores are in, it goes virtually unnoticed by the dealer. With a pricetag of 199.99 on it, most customers don't touch it, either. In a twist of irony, we used a transformer for this mission; a rather dilapitated Scourge, no accs, placed in the back of the dealer's transformer display case. We could only hope this would work. |
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Boss>"Rachael, RC, RedAlert. Can you hear me? Respond, please." Jerunski>(looking at a readout)"They're recieving you. They should be able to hear you anywhere in the store. Battery's going to drain fast, Though. It takes a lot of juice to run the speaker in the toy."
Boss>(nods)"I know you can hear me. Talk to me, people. We don't have much time here." |
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In the store: Rachael drags the dealer to a chair in the back. RedAlert, after rolling the cage down over the door and windows of the store and locking it, goes back to help her. RC, meanwhile, is turning off the lights in the store, and wondering what she's gotten herself into. She hears a couple of thumps, and a muffled scream, and runs to the back of the store to see what's going on. RC>"What are you doing back there?" Rachael>"Nothing that this dealer doesn't deserve. Can you believe him actually lying to our faces about the customers?" RC>"Yes, I can. It's a standard trick on their part to lure the customer into a false sense of urgency. It feeds into the standard buyers impulsive need to have something. If he thinks that someone else might buy it, he'll be more likely to make the purchase now rather than risk losing out on it later. It's how the dealer makes the sale. You of all people should know that; it's a basic move, and it was covered in the training sessions." Rachael>(tying the dealer's arms to the chair)"Do you have to parrot everything that JimLee says? He's a goddamn accountant for christsakes, and he's never been out in the field." RedAlert>(as he binds the dealer's legs to the chair)"Actually, Tut is right, JimLee knows what he's talking about. He understands how the dealer thinks. It's all a matter of making the buck. And he's not really an accountant, he's actually majoring in..." Rachael>(cutting him off)"Not you, too! Christ, this was your idea as much as it was mine!" (puts a gag into the dealer's mouth) dealer>"Hey, what are you..mbmph!"(muffles a profanity thru the gag) RedAlert>"Yes, I wanted to come in here and talk to the guy instead of sitting around waiting for the higher ups to give us the go-ahead. Christ, ever since we developed the bureacracy back at HQ, we've been slowed down to a crawl out here in the field." RC>"It was necessary. We didn't have enough funds on our own to buy the larger lots of tfs. Rachael and I are still in grad school, remember? I have a student loan that will take years to pay off. There's not exactly a lot of cash to go around.The others we let join us have a substantial amount of cash, and no problem spending it for the benefit of all of us. It only made sense for everyone to team up, a move which I might remind you had your full support." RedAlert>"Yea, but I hadn't expected them to have control over our operations out here. With all the procedures they want us to follow, I feel like my hands are forever tied behind my back." RC>"What did you expect? They pay for all of this. They get to have a say-so." RedAlert>"But we do all the work! I don't mind having the other collectors involved, but they should trust us to do our jobs. We got along well enough before them." RC>"They have a right to be concerned. Why be mad at them? They support our cause. (glances at Rachael) And they provide a balance to the hotheads among us." Rachael>"Well excuse me, Mrs Calm Logical Negotiator! Some of us don't have such a vulcan control over our emotions. Dammit, when someone pisses me off, I let them know it!" RC>"And don't I know it." The conversation is interrupted when the three operatives hear a tinny voice coming from the front of the store, near the transformer case. Boss>(transmitting thru the spybot)"Rachael, RC, RedAlert. Can you hear me? Respond, please." Rachael>"RedAlert, I thought I told you to lock the door! Who got in here?" RedAlert>"No one got in here. Sounds like a radio broadcast from our fearless leader." Boss>(transmitting)"I know you can hear me. Talk to me people. We don't have much time here. This is a drain on the battery." Rachael>"from where? I left my cellphone...(look of realization) the spybot! Shit, he probably heard everything I said." Boss>(transmitting)"yes, pretty much. Would you care to explain yourself?" Rachael>"Like I would have anything to say to you!" RC>"Rachael! Don't talk to him like that!" Rachael>"Well, why not? I'm already in hot water, how much worse can it get?" Boss>(transmitting)"A lot worse, unless you can explain to me what you think you are doing. This little venture of yours has not been sanctioned. The higher ups are going to have a field day with this, unless.." Rachael>(cuts him off)"Unless what? I explain to them how dim-witted they are, that they can't see how to solve this problem?" Boss(transmitting)"And you do know? So tell me your plan." Rachael>"Finally! Someone who sees the light! The plan is...er, was... you see, um.." RC>(interrupting)"The plan was, to come in here, and try to negotiate with the dealer, using factual pricing information, embarrassment tactics, and if necessary, subtle threats of force to accomplish our goal. Rachael was...enthusiastic about the last part." Boss>(transmitting)"Ah. I see. And how goes the plan right now?" Rachael>"It wasn't my fault! This incompetant little worm was trying to pull a fast one on us!" Boss(transmitting)"And you expected him to act otherwise?" Rachael>"So...I lost my temper a little." Boss>(transmitting)"And that would be the understatement of the year. Assult, kidnapping, conspiracy...and you dragged your two best friends into the mess. Shall I go on?" Rachael>(quiter, clearly mad at herself)"No." Boss>(transmitting)"Thank you. I'm glad you are calm enough now to understand where we stand regarding this situation. What is the status of the dealer?" RC>"Bound securely to a chair, and quite mad, judging from the look on his face." Boss>(transmitting)"What? You mean he can still see and hear you?" RC>"Yes, he can, why do...oh." RedAlert>"What?" RC>"He can identify us. And he has a good idea of who we are." RedAlert>"He only knows what we look like. What good will that do him?" Boss>(transmitting)"And did you touch anything in the store?" RedAlert>"Shit!" RC>"Our fingerprints. On file." Boss>(transmitting)"And a dealer who, after this little escapade, will have no qualms about suing us. Not only will the police finger you three, but their investigation will no doubt point in the direction of the entire organization, with predictably disasterous results. You know how the media portrays militia-type groups these days." RC>"Can we remove the evidence?" Boss>"There's not enough time for a full sweep, and no guarantee that we could get all of it in the time that remains. And still no way to, pardon the pun, deal with the dealer." Rachael>"Well then, what would you suggest, oh fearless leader?" Boss>(transmitting)"First, get out of the store, as quickly as possible. I'll send in somene to deal with the situation." Rachael>"You're going to bribe him, aren't you?" Boss>(transmitting)"Not your concern." Rachael>(clearly angry)"It most certainly is! I didn't come in here to hand that worm more money than he deserves!" Boss>(transmitting)"Nonetheless, it's going to be the quickest way to deal with it. Now come out." RC>"Understood. We will be there shortly."
TO BE CONTINUED |
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CONTINUED The three operatives walk to the front of the store, leaving an irate dealer in the back trying to curse thru the gag, straining at the ropes holding him to the chair. dealer>"Mbplph! (manages to spit out the gag) Come back here and untie me, goddammit!" RC>"Ignore him. We have our orders." dealer>"I know! I know who you are! I've got a laywer, and I'll sue all of you, you sonofabitches! I swear to god I'll get every penny!" RedAlert>"Heh. He won't get much out of me. (pulls on the mesh gate) Um...(pulls harder. The gate doesn't budge) Hmph. I must have slammed it too hard (pulls really hard; we hear a snap, and it's not the gate) Yeaowww! Shit! My back!"(stumbles away from the gate) RC>"Brad! Er, I mean RedAlert! Are you alright?" RedAlert>"NO! I broke my back! I can't move!" Rachael>"You can't have broken your back. You've probably only strained it. Wimp." dealer> (turning purple in the face as he pulls at the ropes, spittle flying as he rants)"Fucking assholes, all of you! When I get free I'll...!" Rachael>(interrupting him)"Shut-UP! RC, put that gag back in his mouth while I work on the gate." RC>"I'm not going anywhere near him." Rachael>"Fine. I'll just pull on the gate here(reaches toward the handle at the bottom, and tugs, having no better luck than RedAlert)By the Gods! Jammed tight. (looks down at RedAlert, moaning in pain on the floor, holding his back) Maybe we should change your codename to RedintheFace instead." RedAlert>"Not funny! Not funny!" RC>(reaches for RedAlert)Here, let me help(yanks him up off the floor, to the sound of more vertabre popping)Ungh. You weigh more than I thought." RedAlert(screaching in pain)Yeaaaaaaoooowwww!! @#$!!**&#" RC>"There is no reason for such language." RedAlert>"Yes there is! (stands straight up, with noticeably less pain) Oh. Um, thanks." RC>"You are most welcome." Rachael>"Enough of this foolishness! We can't get the gate open. How are we supposed to get out?" dealer>(drool running down the side of his mouth)"Hahahahah! You and your little helpers are thwarted. You can't escape! I'll be a rich man, rich rich rich..." RC, RedAlert, and Rachael>(together)"SHUT UP!" Boss>(transmitting)"What's going on?" RC>"We can't get out." Boss>(transmitting)"Are there any other exits?" RedAlert>"None. Just the front." Boss>(transmitting)"can you pick the lock?" Rachael>"We are a zoologist, an artist, and a computer programmer, respectively. They most certainly did NOT cover lockpicking in any of our courses!" Boss>(transmitting)"Ok, ok, I just thought I would ask. Sit tight, we'll send someone to get you out." RedAlert>"Sit tight. Like we had any other choice..."
TO BE CONTINUED |
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