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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Golden Bee" data-source="post: 9608981" data-attributes="member: 7041055">Operation: T*R*U*S*T Fall“Your mother already signed. And who do you trust more: your friends, or your mother, me, and the United States of America?”This week, the players defeated an armored division and lost a fight to a janitor. April 1935 really is a land of contrasts.The first land was the tiny European nation of Borgovia. Prince Regent Arthur III, last seen when the gang was in Monaco, was interested in modernizing his nation’s military. Being a 13-year-old, he was also interested in re-igniting his tumultuous romance with Devika Velyapur. So if Rafe Lancaster wanted to make money, he and the group would need to arrange the perfect date.It started well, with a lakeside picnic and horseback riding. There was a trip to the market, which was interrupted by rainy weather… And artillery fire.It was a motley group. Wuxia polymath Xiao Yun, underestimated and extremely observant 12-year-old  Janie Voss, and obnoxious academic Winston Callahan, pilot of the Spectre. He and millionaire industrialist Rafe redlined to the aerodrome. Xiao was assigned to take care of Miss Voss, and clambered from street level to the rooftops.The airfield was under artillery attack, but  Rafe's latest plane didn't need a runway… it had VTOL technology.  He grabbed the radio and began reaching out to Lancaster Industries Europe. Any chance they could test out some of the new planes by taking out the enemy’s supply lines? They agreed they could, and everything was hunky-dory… until bullets started flying in the sky, too.Back in town, Borgovia’s royal guard was pinned down by sniper fire. Xiao used her flying crane kick, jumping along rooftops before jumping across 30 feet of pure air… landing on the other side with a flying knee to the shootist’s skull. The sniper’s uniform was Austrian! With the path clear, she needed to get little Janie to the castle’s radio room!A few hundred feet away, the 12-year-old signaled Lancaster's plane with a scrap of glass. She couldn't see the artillery directly, but she had triangulated it based on impacts. Unfortunately, Rafe’s personal flyer wasn't equipped with air-to-surface munitions. Instead, Callahan used some of the “for sale” equipment to create an impromptu bomb bay. In one pass, they were able to take out the attackers’ artillery. They could start on the tanks, until a bullet clipped through Rafe’s plane…Janie, sprinting in her tea party dress, finally made it to the radio room, calling all defensive positions and coordinating the battle.The western flank had been pushed in, which was a problem, until Xiao leaped from the top of an apothecary into the middle of an infantry formation. Backed up by local security forces, she cut them into ribbons and started a rout.Rafe white-knuckled the throttle, barely avoiding more bullets from the Austrian air support. He held the yoke steady so that Callahan could take the controls, then hustled to the tail-gunner seat. He wasn't trying to take them down, simply distract them, as Callahan flew them into the range of the Borgovian anti-air defenses. Flak riddled the enemy planes.Between Janie’s organizing, Xiao’s sword, and air superiority, the invaders were quickly repelled. Devi had warmed up to Prince Arthur, but Janie asked a very observant question.Huh. not as much of a catch then!***After that debacle, Devika demanded her staff join JP Diamond for a mandatory vacation in San Diego. (Rafe was busy with all the new business.) The Hollywood Stars baseball team had just moved south, taking on a new name: the San Diego Padres.  It was opening day and the Padres were playing at their gorgeous new stadium, 50 yards from the Pacific.JP had his eye on this new left fielder, Ted Williams. The Navy had their eyes on JP. He was a distinguished war veteran, yes, but he also just publicly declared his love for a registered foreign agent. Frequent readers might recall his love Captain Ivanova's exploits: breaking a diamond cartel and turning it into a people’s collective,  blowing up a Zeppelin factory in Berlin, and sabotage of Austrian military equipment with the help of Sigmund Freud.The group wasn't subtle in their counter-surveillance. Callahan grabbed a notebook from a "base scout,"  and  Little Miss Voss, after a series of incompetent lies, got locked in the janitor’s closet. When Xiao picked a fight under the bleachers with a group of Navy sailors, it was time to go. After a brief detour with one of their contacts (Callahan's rival professor Nochebuena),  they correctly suspected that their planes were being watched… so it was time to take the San Diegan Surfliner up to the nearest Chinese enclave, the LA suburb of Alhambra!There, they did some digging. The group pursuing them was called T*R*U*S*T, 'Theoretical Recon Using Sanctioned Techniques', a shady operation trying to grow itself in the Navy. Since they were only a short drive from the City of Angels, the players reached out to one of the best wheelers and dealers they knew… Atlas Pictures CEO Ronald Bloomvalt, last seen in "Terror in Tinseltown”!  He pointed out that a secret organization wasn't going to shoot them in public, so they should invite them out of “the Plymouth of the West” and up to Hollywood.The group’s outreach came back to bite them though. Without Maude Brown or Aldous Bingen’s knowledge of the town, someone had leaked the confrontation to the press. Hedda Hopper and a gaggle of newshounds lined the “ancient Roman Street” on the Atlas backlot, eager to see… Something.T*R*U*S*T sent over some sailors with a request: all the players needed to pledge loyalty to the United States. Nobody fell for this, except for Janie, whose mom had already signed the form a week ago! The fast-talking corporal, Ebeneezer White, got her signature and posed for the press before the rest knew what happened. JP, who had served in the Great War, was especially offended that the government didn’t trust him.The T*R*U*S*T-ees turn to leave, when a shot rang out. Everyone froze… But it turned out to be a movie shooting on the Old West street.It wasn't a full defeat, but T*R*U*S*T had the group’s number. Soon, the players will have to find a way to strike back against something that doesn’t officially exist!Janie Voss:</blockquote>

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