Posted by: slamm-0!
It’s been a hell of a night. The Underground decided to throw a New Year’s Eve party to end all New Year’s Eve parties, or at least to put them to shame. For once, nobody was hiding, and nobody was making threats. Everyone locked up their weapons and came to the party—the district’s first party, as it was billed in the invites. The Big Rhino Bar and Grill had decorations, physical and AR, covering every possible empty space. So did most of the Underground. The business district held a street party with DJs, games, and a huge buffet. The local merchants sponsored the event, providing the eats and the beer for free. Harder drinks had to be paid for, of course. It wasn’t anything fancy, but a lot of these people haven’t had fresh cooked meals in years, so they acted like they were feasting at the some exotic high-priced restaurant.
When the party kicked into gear, there was no hate-filled rhetoric, no social boundaries. These were people of all races and all income levels getting together and celebrating the end of an incredible year. A lot of tourists showed up to bar hop and ingrati- ated themselves by buying rounds for the house at each place they ended up.
Three big AR bells that someone had programmed into every storefront rang in midnight all at the same time, and that’s when the booms started. At first, we thought it was just some DJ playing Troll Punk with the bass cranked up, but as the booms continued to echo, the glassware started shaking, dust shifted down from the ceilings, and an old water pipe broke. The
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There’s a reason the plant has such a high employee turnover, Sounder. The employees are exposed to toxic fumes and carcinogens on a daily basis, which register well above the regulatory emissions limit. I’ve documented over three hundred cases of cancer and other genetic maladies that have gone unreported. The plant hasn’t had a decent safety inspection in years because George Mathers uses his connections to rubberstamp the official paperwork. That’s what Brackhaven Investments pays him an consultation fee for.>
Mr. Bonds>
And the paydata just keeps coming. Someone’s leaking information from Oaks’ grand jury investigation. Looks like they managed to get some drones inside that haven’t been picked up by the daily sweep. This little gem just showed up for sale on my board.>
Orbital DK>
How’s that Bloom job going?>
Hard Exit>
Just about finished, actually. The team may have just mapped the majority of Brackhaven Investments shell companies and subsidiaries.>
Netcat>
I’m posting the list in our high-risk jobs thread. You will all want to read it before you take your next job. Brackhaven has been using his shell company employees to hire runners for suicide missions. Some of those “Mr. or Ms. Johnson to avoid” names are part of this list.>
Mr. Bonds>
Vemonte Chemicals plant is on that list? That can’t be right. That company’s known for its meta-friendly hiring practices. It employees over thirty percent of the metro area’s low-income workers.>
Sounder Inc oming M essag e ...//upload grand Jury video transcript: Èmile corrigan testimony 12/27/2012
oaKs: Mr. Corrigan, please tell us where you where on March 28, 2074.
coRRigan: In Governor Brackhaven’s office at the governor’s mansion.
oaKs: And what were you doing there?
coRRigan: Discussing the extent of the Parker-Quinn embez- zlement scandal. The administration was in damage-control mode.
oaKs: Please explain to the jury what “damage-control mode” means.
coRRigan: It means … forgive me, Ms. Oaks, but is this really necessary?
oaKs: This is a grand jury investigation, Mr. Corrigan, and you are under oath.
coRRigan: I could get fired for this. The governor is not the most forgiving man and his temper has been a little unpre- dictable lately.
oaKs: All witness testimony will be sealed, Mr. Corrigan, and the jury has been instructed not to speak of this case to anyone. No one will know what you say here. If you think you’ll need police protection, I would be happy to assign a Knight Errant unit to protect you. Now, please, explain the term “damage-control mode” to the jury.
coRRigan: Damage-control mode is a term commonly used by politicians to describe the act of covering up damaging, or potentially damaging, information. Staffers are given the official party line, instructed not to comment to reporters, and sometimes even instructed to lie about events.
oaKs: Does damage control also cover the destruction of evidence?
coRRigan: It can. Files are wiped, e-mails and communications are sanitized, documents are misplaced, and physical papers might be redacted or shredded.
oaKs: When you and Governor Brackhaven discussed the Parker- Quinn scandal, did he give you any specific instructions? coRRigan: He … I …
oaKs: Mr. Corrigan?
coRRigan: <heavy sigh> He gave me the same instructions he always gives me when he asks me to handle a problem. He told me to do whatever it took to solve the problem.
oaKs: And how exactly did you solve the problem?
coRRigan: I contacted George Mathers, vice president of public relations at Knight Errant, for assistance. He hired a technomancer, one of those shadowrunners, to remove the governor’s personal information from Parker’s and Quinn’s charity accounts. This way, any investigation into the matter would reveal that the pair acted alone.
oaKs: Is George Mathers’ on the governor’s payroll?
coRRigan: He does not draw a salary from the governor’s office. oaKs: That’s not the question I asked, Mr. Corrigan. Does
Governor Brackhaven in his capacity as governor or as a private citizen pay Mr. Mathers as an employee?
coRRigan: I … believe … Mr. Mathers may be on the payroll of one of Brackhaven Investments’ subsidiaries as a special consultant or something. But I have no specific knowledge of this other than a rumor I once heard.
oaKs: Mr. Corrigan, are you aware of Mr. Mathers’ relationship with Press Secretary Edmund Jeffries?
coRRigan: What? No! They have a relationship?
oaKs: Who exactly did Press Secretary Jeffries take direction from regarding the administration’s stance on Proposition 23? coRRigan: Why the governor, of course. Why do you ask?
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He admits to sending people into the election center to alter the recount; he admits to orchestrating the kidnapping of Eliza Bloom’s mother so Bloom would retire from the election; he admits to firing LoneStar because a few lowly cops were investigating his precious company; and he admits to using his position as governor to line his own pockets at the expense of the “trog horde.”
Long story short: Brackhaven’s screwed. Best day ever!