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Delta Green - All Part of the Job
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<blockquote data-quote="Audrik" data-source="post: 6442798" data-attributes="member: 73653"><p><strong>Killer Out of Space - Session 1</strong></p><p></p><p>Agent SETH was no longer confined to his bed, and though he still had not regained 100% of his strength, he felt he was just about ready to leave the hospital. He and Agent ROSE were discussing that between comments about the space shuttle mission that had been in the news for the past week.</p><p></p><p>The second day of the mission, Commander Alan Poindexter reported that the shuttle had passed through a ‘glowing cloud’. There was a slight jump in external radiation, but nothing dangerous. NASA refused to comment, but there was no shortage of speculation from the rest of the scientific community. The general consensus seemed to be that a cloud of gas or ions was pulled from the Van Allen Belt, and maintained as a glowing cloud of radiation. No one was particularly alarmed.</p><p></p><p>CNN had obtained footage from a NASA live-feed of day three of the mission. This footage showed Commander Poindexter performing an Extra-Vehicular Activity. He lost his grip on a tool which then floated slowly away. The camera panned to follow the tool, and it picked up a brief glow emanating from the shuttle’s side, and then its bay. The glow moved toward the airlock, and it passed from the camera’s view. A voice from off camera mentioned higher than normal levels of radiation. As Commander Poindexter headed back toward the airlock door, voice communication broke, and the camera winked out.</p><p></p><p>Over the next few days, mainstream news outlets parroted NASA’s statements that a serious malfunction aboard Discovery was preventing voice and image communication, but that telemetric communication continued, and the flight of Discovery was not threatened. The less-mainstream media, as well as many blogs and internet forums were full of talk of conspiracy and cover up. Iran accused the U.S. of fabricating reports of communication breakdown in order to test a nuclear targeting device over the Persian Gulf, and riots broke out all over the Middle East.</p><p></p><p>The space shuttle wasn’t the only thing in the news, of course. The President of Poland had been killed in a plane crash; a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck Qinghai, China; and volcanic ash from beneath an ice cap in Iceland disrupted European air traffic. Still, the flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery was being discussed seemingly everywhere.</p><p></p><p>It was during one of these news broadcasts that Agent SETH’s Delta Green phone rang. A man’s voice on the other end asked for an Agent STUART. SETH gave his code name, and said that he knew of no Agent STUART. The voice said that it had been a long time since he’d called this number, but that STUART was his contact. He gave his name as Doctor Malcom Harris.</p><p></p><p>“Listen, I don’t know what you’ve heard – what the news is saying – but you need to know … the quarantine … not CDC … nor anthrax … the shuttle must have brought it down … it sucks and burns.”</p><p></p><p>The line stayed open, but there were no further sounds from the other end. Agent SETH asked ROSE to look up the number on the caller ID, and that turned up a dummy number for an offshore relay which is what would be expected for a call from a DG phone. She then looked up Doctor Malcom Harris, and that identified him as a retired NASA doctor living in the town of Gove, Kansas; population 80. On a hunch, Agent SETH asked ROSE to check out reports of UFO sightings in Kansas. There was indeed a surge in UFO sightings over the past couple days, but the Air Force had already discredited the vast majority of them.</p><p></p><p>The agents decided to mobilize their cells, and everyone was to meet at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Once everyone was together, Agent RUBY was introduced. ROSE and SETH each rented a car for their respective cells, and it was about 8:30 PM when the agents left for Gove. Agent SETH obeyed speed limits, but ROSE kept her car over 100 MPH for the two hours it took to reach the road block set up by the Kansas National Guard. There were two Humvees blocking the road, and a man was yelling at a young soldier. Not willing to wait her turn, Agent ROSE approached and lifted her shirt. Once she had everyone’s attention, she demanded to know why the road was being blocked.</p><p></p><p>The soldier informed her that by order of the CDC and the Governor of Kansas, the area was under quarantine to contain an outbreak of anthrax. ROSE knew their CDC credentials had been invalidated after the previous Operation, but she still had a badge. She produced it, and handed it to the soldier. He took it to one of the Humvees and compared it to a paper on a clipboard. When he returned, he handed her the badge.</p><p></p><p>“I’m sorry, ma’am. You’re not on the list.”</p><p></p><p>“What list? I’m with the CDC.”</p><p></p><p>“I can see that.”</p><p></p><p>“So let me through.”</p><p></p><p>“Can’t do that, ma’am. You’re not on the list.”</p><p></p><p>She demanded to see the person in charge, and the Lieutenant gave her the same response. She tried flirting, but she knew that was getting her nowhere when he held up his hand to show his wedding ring. She argued with the National Guardsmen for an hour and a half before S-Cell arrived.</p><p></p><p>Agent SETH approached and asked what was going on. When ROSE explained, he showed his CDC credentials, and tried the same line. He got the same result. They decided to talk to the man who had been there first. He introduced himself as Doctor Pete Watson. He was trying to get to a friend of his in Gove, Malcom Harris.</p><p></p><p>He told the agents he’d spoken with his friend most recently about three days ago. They’d spoken of many things, but mostly the space shuttle, religion, and the unrest in the Middle East. Doctor Harris had invited him to visit, and he was on his way when he found the road blocked, and was informed of the quarantine. He didn’t believe the anthrax story. Anthrax was primarily a disease of herbivores, and while dangerous, it was treatable, and rarely deadly. No outbreak justified a quarantine of this magnitude. Agent SETH remarked that he’d been thinking something similar.</p><p></p><p>As they were talking and deciding what to do, Agent SID saw helicopters patrolling with searchlights, while Agents ROSE and RUBY noticed a third Humvee pull up slowly and stop several yards off. Two men in camouflage uniforms and blue berets got out and approached the Lieutenant. They discussed something briefly, and then the men headed back to their vehicle. As the Humvee drove off, Agent Rose asked the soldiers at the road block who the men in the berets were. The soldiers told her it was their job to keep the people inside in, and the people outside out. They were not operating an information booth.</p><p></p><p>Agent SETH emailed A-Cell to let them know everything that had happened so far, and what his suspicions were. He received a nearly immediate response, but it was short:</p><p></p><p><em>You’re certain of the blue berets? Please confirm.</em></p><p></p><p>Agent SETH replied that they had indeed been soldiers in blue berets, and that when asked about them, the National Guardsmen refused to answer. The next reply took quite some time to come in, and so the agents decided to return to Wichita, and regroup. Agent ROSE was upset, but she didn’t let that interfere with her driving habits. She still had her rental car over 100 MPH all the way back. At one point, R-Cell flew off the road, and into a corn field to avoid hitting a cow which had wandered into the road. They flew into the hotel parking lot just after 1:30 AM, and S-Cell arrived about an hour and a half later.</p><p></p><p>Late the next morning, A-Cell’s reply came through:</p><p></p><p><em>No CDC activity in Kansas. U.S. Army, and NASA. Blue berets may mean Majestic-12 BLUEFLY. If so, they’ll be looking for alien life forms. Proceed with caution.</em></p><p></p><p>Well, that explained a few things, and confirmed some suspicions, but more than anything else, it set a tone of danger and paranoia. Just what happened to the shuttle? What did the government know that it didn’t want getting out? The agents spent the remainder of the day discussing plans to infiltrate the quarantine zone, and acquiring necessary equipment. The first thing Agent SID wanted to do was find a good set of walkie-talkies. The hospital ventilation crawl had made him shy away from the constant use of cell phones for communication.</p><p></p><p>Later that night, Agent ROSE headed back out to the road block, once again making the three and a half hour drive in about two hours. She proceeded to distract the National Guardsmen for as long as it would take Agents SETH and SID to arrive, and sneak through. An hour and a half later, they did just that. Dressed in all black, they walked slowly through the corn fields north of the quarantine zone. Every time a helicopter would pass overhead, they would hit the ground and remain still. It was slow going, but eventually they emerged to find two farms straight ahead. One was totally dark and looked abandoned. The other was overgrown, and the barn and house looked to have burned and collapsed.</p><p></p><p>Beyond the farms, they could see several lighting structures keeping a large area well lit. They couldn’t tell from this distance just what it was, but if SETH’s calculations were correct, the tiny community of Gove, Kansas should be only a few miles past those lights.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Audrik, post: 6442798, member: 73653"] [b]Killer Out of Space - Session 1[/b] Agent SETH was no longer confined to his bed, and though he still had not regained 100% of his strength, he felt he was just about ready to leave the hospital. He and Agent ROSE were discussing that between comments about the space shuttle mission that had been in the news for the past week. The second day of the mission, Commander Alan Poindexter reported that the shuttle had passed through a ‘glowing cloud’. There was a slight jump in external radiation, but nothing dangerous. NASA refused to comment, but there was no shortage of speculation from the rest of the scientific community. The general consensus seemed to be that a cloud of gas or ions was pulled from the Van Allen Belt, and maintained as a glowing cloud of radiation. No one was particularly alarmed. CNN had obtained footage from a NASA live-feed of day three of the mission. This footage showed Commander Poindexter performing an Extra-Vehicular Activity. He lost his grip on a tool which then floated slowly away. The camera panned to follow the tool, and it picked up a brief glow emanating from the shuttle’s side, and then its bay. The glow moved toward the airlock, and it passed from the camera’s view. A voice from off camera mentioned higher than normal levels of radiation. As Commander Poindexter headed back toward the airlock door, voice communication broke, and the camera winked out. Over the next few days, mainstream news outlets parroted NASA’s statements that a serious malfunction aboard Discovery was preventing voice and image communication, but that telemetric communication continued, and the flight of Discovery was not threatened. The less-mainstream media, as well as many blogs and internet forums were full of talk of conspiracy and cover up. Iran accused the U.S. of fabricating reports of communication breakdown in order to test a nuclear targeting device over the Persian Gulf, and riots broke out all over the Middle East. The space shuttle wasn’t the only thing in the news, of course. The President of Poland had been killed in a plane crash; a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck Qinghai, China; and volcanic ash from beneath an ice cap in Iceland disrupted European air traffic. Still, the flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery was being discussed seemingly everywhere. It was during one of these news broadcasts that Agent SETH’s Delta Green phone rang. A man’s voice on the other end asked for an Agent STUART. SETH gave his code name, and said that he knew of no Agent STUART. The voice said that it had been a long time since he’d called this number, but that STUART was his contact. He gave his name as Doctor Malcom Harris. “Listen, I don’t know what you’ve heard – what the news is saying – but you need to know … the quarantine … not CDC … nor anthrax … the shuttle must have brought it down … it sucks and burns.” The line stayed open, but there were no further sounds from the other end. Agent SETH asked ROSE to look up the number on the caller ID, and that turned up a dummy number for an offshore relay which is what would be expected for a call from a DG phone. She then looked up Doctor Malcom Harris, and that identified him as a retired NASA doctor living in the town of Gove, Kansas; population 80. On a hunch, Agent SETH asked ROSE to check out reports of UFO sightings in Kansas. There was indeed a surge in UFO sightings over the past couple days, but the Air Force had already discredited the vast majority of them. The agents decided to mobilize their cells, and everyone was to meet at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Once everyone was together, Agent RUBY was introduced. ROSE and SETH each rented a car for their respective cells, and it was about 8:30 PM when the agents left for Gove. Agent SETH obeyed speed limits, but ROSE kept her car over 100 MPH for the two hours it took to reach the road block set up by the Kansas National Guard. There were two Humvees blocking the road, and a man was yelling at a young soldier. Not willing to wait her turn, Agent ROSE approached and lifted her shirt. Once she had everyone’s attention, she demanded to know why the road was being blocked. The soldier informed her that by order of the CDC and the Governor of Kansas, the area was under quarantine to contain an outbreak of anthrax. ROSE knew their CDC credentials had been invalidated after the previous Operation, but she still had a badge. She produced it, and handed it to the soldier. He took it to one of the Humvees and compared it to a paper on a clipboard. When he returned, he handed her the badge. “I’m sorry, ma’am. You’re not on the list.” “What list? I’m with the CDC.” “I can see that.” “So let me through.” “Can’t do that, ma’am. You’re not on the list.” She demanded to see the person in charge, and the Lieutenant gave her the same response. She tried flirting, but she knew that was getting her nowhere when he held up his hand to show his wedding ring. She argued with the National Guardsmen for an hour and a half before S-Cell arrived. Agent SETH approached and asked what was going on. When ROSE explained, he showed his CDC credentials, and tried the same line. He got the same result. They decided to talk to the man who had been there first. He introduced himself as Doctor Pete Watson. He was trying to get to a friend of his in Gove, Malcom Harris. He told the agents he’d spoken with his friend most recently about three days ago. They’d spoken of many things, but mostly the space shuttle, religion, and the unrest in the Middle East. Doctor Harris had invited him to visit, and he was on his way when he found the road blocked, and was informed of the quarantine. He didn’t believe the anthrax story. Anthrax was primarily a disease of herbivores, and while dangerous, it was treatable, and rarely deadly. No outbreak justified a quarantine of this magnitude. Agent SETH remarked that he’d been thinking something similar. As they were talking and deciding what to do, Agent SID saw helicopters patrolling with searchlights, while Agents ROSE and RUBY noticed a third Humvee pull up slowly and stop several yards off. Two men in camouflage uniforms and blue berets got out and approached the Lieutenant. They discussed something briefly, and then the men headed back to their vehicle. As the Humvee drove off, Agent Rose asked the soldiers at the road block who the men in the berets were. The soldiers told her it was their job to keep the people inside in, and the people outside out. They were not operating an information booth. Agent SETH emailed A-Cell to let them know everything that had happened so far, and what his suspicions were. He received a nearly immediate response, but it was short: [I]You’re certain of the blue berets? Please confirm.[/I] Agent SETH replied that they had indeed been soldiers in blue berets, and that when asked about them, the National Guardsmen refused to answer. The next reply took quite some time to come in, and so the agents decided to return to Wichita, and regroup. Agent ROSE was upset, but she didn’t let that interfere with her driving habits. She still had her rental car over 100 MPH all the way back. At one point, R-Cell flew off the road, and into a corn field to avoid hitting a cow which had wandered into the road. They flew into the hotel parking lot just after 1:30 AM, and S-Cell arrived about an hour and a half later. Late the next morning, A-Cell’s reply came through: [I]No CDC activity in Kansas. U.S. Army, and NASA. Blue berets may mean Majestic-12 BLUEFLY. If so, they’ll be looking for alien life forms. Proceed with caution.[/I] Well, that explained a few things, and confirmed some suspicions, but more than anything else, it set a tone of danger and paranoia. Just what happened to the shuttle? What did the government know that it didn’t want getting out? The agents spent the remainder of the day discussing plans to infiltrate the quarantine zone, and acquiring necessary equipment. The first thing Agent SID wanted to do was find a good set of walkie-talkies. The hospital ventilation crawl had made him shy away from the constant use of cell phones for communication. Later that night, Agent ROSE headed back out to the road block, once again making the three and a half hour drive in about two hours. She proceeded to distract the National Guardsmen for as long as it would take Agents SETH and SID to arrive, and sneak through. An hour and a half later, they did just that. Dressed in all black, they walked slowly through the corn fields north of the quarantine zone. Every time a helicopter would pass overhead, they would hit the ground and remain still. It was slow going, but eventually they emerged to find two farms straight ahead. One was totally dark and looked abandoned. The other was overgrown, and the barn and house looked to have burned and collapsed. Beyond the farms, they could see several lighting structures keeping a large area well lit. They couldn’t tell from this distance just what it was, but if SETH’s calculations were correct, the tiny community of Gove, Kansas should be only a few miles past those lights. [/QUOTE]
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