Week 23 – ( update )

Saturday Night, August 11

Almost as soon as the guests arrive at camp, a general meeting is called. As Doc performs surgery most of the group gathers in the dinning hall to talk about what happened and what needs to be done next. They quickly get a few volunteers to go clean up the truck, and just to make things look less suspicious they clean a few other vehicles too. This turns into something of a wet T-shirt contest.

After Doc deals with the two wounded men; Mendez dies from his sever wounds and Bowman’s leg is braced and set, he puts the question to the group “What do we do with the body?”

After some debate it is decided that they will have a back year d fire and burn min down to bones. It is a nice summer night after all, a great time for a party. The bones will then be placed into the cast iron old style bath tub, which will be turned into a planter. Although it is grim work a few volunteers set about getting the fire ready.

Naturally a few cases of beer are produced. The home made moonshine is not yet ready. As the fire gets going so does the party. Those who had been cleaning the trucks toss their clothes into the fire. Doc also puts in most of the blood stained items from surgery that could not easily be cleaned and sterilized. He wants to be sure an investigation will turn up no trace of Mendez.

Although the newly arrived DARPA kids were told to stay hidden in the secret compartment in the basement, they made their way up to the rear balcony to watch the party. Kateri’s twin daughters went to hand out with them.

By about 4am most of the group had shuffled off to bed, with only a few people determined to stay up to watch the sun rise. Kellyanna and Yvan found a quiet spot to be romantic, however they both passed out before anything meaningful could be accomplished. The second or third time this sort of thing has happened to them.

Sunday, August 12

When out for her morning walk May Lin finds Kellyanna and Yvan cuddled up together. As always she has a camera with her and so she snaps a few photos. She had taken a good number of shots of everyone the night before. All the photos are posted to the farm’s local area network. By noon Kellyanna is plotting revenge. Yvan thinks it’s all very funny, but he agrees to help in the plot.

Doc having drunk himself stupid the night before, then sleeping for nearly 9 hours, avoids a killer hang over. 

That evening when May Lin takes her shower, the trap is sprung. The blueberry jello that was put into the shower head mixes with the warm water and turns her skin blue. ( this is based on a prank that really does work ).

Cast of Characters - update

New NPCs

John Newman – male, mid 20s, graduate student at Mount A University, in political science and sociology. He is an idealist and activist, involved in the Occupy movement. He believes strongly that people have to stand up and take action if they want change. Although he mostly talks about peaceful protests, he is not a pacifist.

Mary Hatfield – female, mid 20s, also student at Mount A, girl friend of John. She is from a wealthy family, which does not approve of her radical friends. She is a computer hacker involved with Anonymous. She believes cyber activism can be more affective than protesting in front of city hall. Not a survivalist or a fighter.

Marybelle ( Ellie ) – younger sister of Kateri, age 24. She has worked various dead end jobs, mostly in fast food. Lived at home with mother, but very much wanted to get out. She brings no real useful skills or assets to the group but she is family.

Zacaria ( Zaka ) – younger brother of kateri, age 22. He has spent most of his time avoiding work, listening to music, smoking weed and trying to be a rock star. He does actually sing and play guitar very well. He was expecting society to fall apart soon, so he was happy to join his sister’s survivalist group.

Remy Leblanc – male early 30s, friend of Doreen. He is an assistant manager at the Costco. He has been useful in helping the group get supplies at discount and he is willing to help clean out the store if necessary. His combat and survival skills are limited.   

The DARPA kids

Kirk, Reko, Trielle – they seem to be siblings, all age 11, but not triplets. They are some sort of genetic engineering ( super soldier ) project. They have extensive military training but lack some of the normal social skills.

Sam Stone – Major US special forces, male late 30s. A regular member of the DARPA kids project. Now that Dr Mendez is dead he is guardian of the kids. He is a highly skilled and experienced warrior.

Bill Bowman – Lieutenant US air force, black male late 20s. A skilled pilot, who has no real involvement in the Kids Project, he was tapped for the mission at the last minute. He was a patient of Dr Mendez after a crash several years ago. He firmly supports the Constitutional faction against the Federalists.

Game Log – Week 23

In the news

Over the last week there were many news items on TV and in print that held the same idea; “This is no time to panic, protest or otherwise be disruptive.” Even stories that admitted things were tough and likely to get tougher, called for people to remain calm. The intellectuals saw this as good advice because panic would make a bad situation worse. But the activists saw it as another attempt to control the people. Do not protest as prices go up and your wages are frozen. To not speak out as the government makes poor policy choices. Stay calm while the corporate executives give themselves fat pay outs before they close down business locations and fire thousands of people.

Monday & Tuesday 

 

The group’s political activist John and his computer hacker girl friend Mary, who had attended the student protests in Montreal, talk frequently with group members about how the individual must stand up and do something. Keeping quiet is surrender. Not surprisingly they are part of the local Occupy cell, which is planning an event on Wednesday in front of city hall.    

Keeping in mind all the recent clashes between police and protesters, especially those in the US, which had turned violent, John and Mary, want a good plan for this event. So they talk with Ray Frasier the group’s RCMP friend about police crowd control tactics and how to defeat them. Next they talk with the local Occupy leaders at the University.

Week 23 – Wednesday, August 8

Because all protests, with out a permit, are illegal and no permits are being issued anymore, the entire event is planned to be a peaceful act of civil disruption. The mob of protesters arrives suddenly, from all directions, right outside city hall, at 11am, blocking off Main Street. The authorities are rather stunned, but quickly the police are called in. They form a blockade around the protesters and for several hours there is a lot of yelling with megaphones.

When the police give a final warning and start to move in to brake up the protest and arrest people, the next stage of the plan goes into effect. People form into organized defense lines, with face masks and fire extinguishers ready for the police pepper spray. Other people stand ready with broom sticks to poke at the cops as they advance. Then smoke bombs are handed out, to be tossed behind the police front line.

Things are violent, but not chaotic. The people sand and fight with out letting any fallen comrades be surrounded by a bunch of cops and dragged off. The struggle is brief because as soon as it begins the evacuation plan is set in motion. A stolen fire truck is driven into the area, right into the police line, with make-shift water cannons being used to disrupt the police so people can flee the area.

Although some people are arrested, most get away.  By 3pm the protest is over. John is arrested, but his fake ID as an army intelligence officer, which is linked to a real task force investigating civil disruption groups, allows him to walk away from police HQ a short time after he is taken in.

In the news this day

In Chicago a unit of home land security is sent to arrest an immigrant family. Their neighbors are not willing to let this happen. In the resulting fight several people are shot and the agents are forced to take refuge in the house. They call for help. But when the local police arrive, instead of arresting the small mob of citizens, they demand the agents put down their weapons and come out with hands up.  

Week 23 – Thursday, August 9

The governor of Michigan along with the CO of the National Guard, the CO of the local Army base and the head of the Militia make a joint statement. “Its time for democracy to be restored to America. All states should stand up and refuse to carry out orders which are unconstitutional. But more than this needs to be done. Washington should nullify those laws that have taken away our freedoms.”

Later that night there is a press release from General Allen Haze on behalf of the Constitutional Restoration Armed Service Persons of America, which is mostly comprised of Oath Keepers.  The statement is a polite declaration of war. If offers Congress 24 hours to agree to the deconstruction of modern federalism and a return to traditional core values found in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Week 23 – Friday, August 10

Nothing at all is said on main stream media about the General’s ultimatum, until 8am the next day when the President makes an announcement. It is a carefully worded speech calling for people to stay calm in the face of new troubles. It does not directly acknowledge General Haze or his group’s demand, but rather talks about radical extremist cells with in the US military, which aim to perform a coup-de-teat, in the hope that they can solve America’s problems by installing a military dictatorship. He states firmly that America will remain united and strong no matter what it takes.

Mary, the group’s hacker, finds info about the fighting that is already going on. Some military units support the Constitutional Restoration, but many are fractured. Thus there are battles on several bases for control of the instillation.

There is almost no news about the day’s events in mainstream media, except for a few reports from European sources who have reporters in America. The BBC offers the best coverage, including an interview with the governor of Michigan.

On the internet there is a lot of talk about events, most of which is just speculation, although there are some first hand tweets from people involved. Almost all posts relating to the event are quickly taken down, and new posts using any of a bunch of key words are blocked. But this censorship only fuels discussions about how the government is abusing its power.   

Week 23 – Saturday, August 11

The day the internet died – at 5am the satellites stopped working, as if someone has simply switched their network functions off. However, major TV networks were unaffected.  Mary immediately set about searching for non-American satellites that were still functioning. Unfortunately most of them were overwhelmed with traffic so things were about as slow as the early days of dial up networking.

At noon Doc gets a call from his grand father, who is involved with the Constitutional Restoration Army. He wants to help his friend Dr Cameron, be getting her kids to safety. They will be sent by chopper along with their guardian Dr Mendez. 

( Dr Cameron is a top bio-chemist. Dr Mendez works on limb restoration for veterans. )

As the chopper crosses the boarder it takes fire and is damaged, Mendez is badly hurt. It radios the pick up team, Doc and Kateir, to notify them of the situation and reset a rendezvous point. The chopper crashes and one pilot brakes a leg. The kids turn out to be in full battle dress and are very calm about helping get the wounded into the truck, one of them is always on alert as the other two work. Doc performs first aid then the truck gets moving to a location a few miles from the crash. There he performs a more lengthy operation to stabilize Mendez.

As they drive home in the truck, a bunch of people in the back, an RCMP car spots them. There is no way to explain the situation with out getting taken in for questioning so they have no choice but to flee. Kateir’s driving turns out to be better than the cop’s, who misses a sharp turn at high speed and goes off the road.

It is about 9pm when the team arrives back at camp. The kids and one pilot are taken down to the bunker; the injured are taken to the medical bay. Although Doc tries hard, Mendez dies. After surgery Doc goes to check on the kids. The pilot tells him not to ask to many questions, because the kids are part of a top secret project.  

Game Log - Week 22

Week 22, Monday July 30

Ranger Bog got an urgent call from the group whom he was going to help cross the border that day. One of the women was pregnant and going into premature labor. The group was in hiding near the river, which formed the border. Bob, who was already on the road, called Kateri, who was back at the farm. She organized a team to help out.

Three hours later, Bob, Kateri, Doc, the Grunt and Yvan were in the woods on an rough trail near the river, having parked their vehicles about a mile back on the fire road.  It was easy to get most of the American refugees across; they were well prepared for the trip. But Doc had to cross to the other side to deliver the baby. Kateri went with him.

During the delivery a two man American boarder patrol unexpectedly showed up. They were taken by surprise by the armed husband of the delivering mother, who would not cross the river until his wife did. The patrol men surrendered and were tied up, with out a fight.

Things went ok until Doc and Kateri, who were last to swim across the river, got caught in a current. Doc lost his medical bag, Kateri got swept down river and into the path of a patrol boat. They rescued her. Then came over to the Canadian side of the river where Ranger Bob, who was in his on-duty outfit, explained what had happened. While out looking for some rare plants, K had fallen in and D had tried to save her. ( real names not used ). He did well with his fast talk skill and a story that was believable. The patrol boat left, as it was in search of a team that had failed their radio check in.

Meanwhile the refugees had gone with Yvan and the Grunt to the rendezvous point.

Things seemed to be good, as Bob, Kateri and Doc drove down the dirt road in his truck, until they saw an RCMP car coming towards them. Maybe it was a coincidence. Then the lights started to flash. Doc figured that the patrol boat had found the missing men tied to the tree, radioed their HQ, which had radioed the local RCMP, who had sent a car to look into the suspicious activity of the three people by the river.

Bob acted quickly. Having a lot of experience with people trying to escape from him on dirt roads he knew a few good tricks. However the police proved to be better at driving that he was, so he resorted to plan B. Getting Kateri to drive on a small strait away, Bob took his rifle and shot the engine of the police car. A good hit put them out of action.

Next it was along more back roads to a place where they could abandon his truck. Then it was an hour of hiking over to a friend’s cabin, where Bob called his HQ and reported his truck stolen.

Meanwhile Yvan and the Grunt had taken the refugees on to their planned point of retreat. A summer camp one of them owned in the woods.

It was not until late evening that everyone got home to the farm, exhausted but unhurt.      

 

In the news.

Immediately after China started its attack on Taiwan, the USA told China to back down with in 24 hours or face war.  Shortly before the deadline the USA announced it would not go to war with out UN backing. It would suspend all payments on debt held by China, until the matter was resolved. Shortly before the Monday morning UN meeting China said that it would suspend shipment of all goods to North America, until the US paid what it owed.

Monday news reports were thus full of speculation about the economic disaster that was starting to happen. The sudden end to cheep consumer goods from China would effectively mean nothing new on the shelves of almost every store in America.

Week 22, Tuesday July 31

Shopping madness grips Canada and the USA. Already having to deal with prices inflated by the increase in fuel costs / transport cost, the consuming public now faces the sudden impending end to all cheep goods. Although some commentators say it’s a great chance for Mexican to become the primary provider of everything made on the cheep.

Regardless of the media, many people rush off to buy a few things, before those things double in price or simply can not be found on the shelves. In Canada there is already a set of controls on wages and prices. However a great many items are increasingly ‘falling off trucks’ to be sold on the black market.

Kellyanna and Yvan go into town to pick up a few things. While they are at lunch two thugs try to rub their van. Kellyanna acts quickly firing a shot in the air and chasing after the robbers. They drop their load and run for it. Many bystanders watch the entire thing, a few even take photos.

Week 22, Wednesday August 1.   

Doc’s grand pa, Colonel Ward, calls him up to ask for a favor. He wants to use the ‘camp’ as a relocation base for several military families, spouses of active duty people who will feel better about the upcoming conflict in the USA if their wives and kids are out of harm’s way. Officially the group; 10 adults and 5 kids, is coming to vacation in Canada for 2 weeks of camping. Unofficially they plan to stay until things calm down.

They arrive Wednesday night, for a three day stay. During this time they acquire some vehicles and supplies, then the really do go camping. What they will do come winter is the subject of some speculative conversation.