Search Results: 40 messages were found

Okay, so it sounds like we're pretty sure something's going on behind the scenes here--whether it's the Oracle, Oligarchs, or what. There's a lot that's been happening, and as we found out, we need to get the details nailed down if we're going to be able to put this all together--and I have a feeling we'd better, because it's looking more and more like whatever this is could seriously tip the balance of power around here.

Niobe

Good work by ShroudedVortex and Premier to get our people through the hallways. Looks like Wright had the same idea we did. At least we can hope we're causing her as much trouble as she's causing us.

Niobe

Looks like that device was Wright's all along, which probably means she was the one behind that "spider" stealing from Wright Research, too--looking up data from her old projects?

Whatever she was using it for, it must have worked, because now she's back, with override abilities, and a real pain in the *CENSORED*. That device was our one means of tracking the interface program all these people are after.

It's going to make it harder to find, that's all. But if it uses its signal variation again, we have a shot at picking it up. I just hope it hasn't finished whatever it's been up to at Wright Research yet.

Kalt's receptionist sure knew how to take her time, but the Machines meant business with that show of force. Any more thoughts on whether the Unlimit angle is going to get us anywhere?

Niobe

Sheldon Brewer. If we can get Ouroboros' network data from this guy, maybe we can figure out just what this is all about.

The Merv on another power trip is definitely something we do not need right now.

I want to thank Azarus, JynxSolo, Phiberglas, Skyscape, and TameDragon for hanging tough in the chateau with me, and everyone else for keeping those bastards occupied outside the club.

... Of course I'm glad we got him to New Zion. What the hell kind of question is that?

I'd like to thank everyone who helped face down Halborn in Mannsdale. I especially need to thank NeoExcidious for picking me up after Halborn flattened me, and RazuacheV2 for doing a hell of a better job than I did of keeping the big son of a *CENSORED* busy while the rest of us took out his override programs.

He hasn't been able to find the Oracle down yet, but he's still out there looking for her, so we've got to keep doing whatever we can to stop him.

I've heard some people ask why we're going to all this trouble to keep him and his program-terminating codes away from her, and all I can say to those people is that while she may be a pain in the *CENSORED* sometimes, you'd be floating in a pod with tubes sucking the life out of you right now if it wasn't for her.

Niobe

Trapped? What the hell did he mean by that? He's never said anything about being stuck inside the Matrix.

Now we don't know any more than before, AND he's dropping hostile programs across the city. Just great. If we can't talk some sense into him soon, this could all go to hell real fast.

We managed to get our hands on some more of the strange codes the intruder's been leaving behind. Still can't read them, but it's the only solid info we have right now, so we'll just have to keep trying.

I'd like to thank everyone who gave us a hand, and especially Neoteny, Cervacius, Premier, and Voltio, who came up with the stuff Fingers was after.

Niobe

A lot of people would believe the Oracle if she told them that the sun rotates around the Earth. What isn't she telling us about this intruder?

I don't know. It isn't Morpheus. God *CENSORED* it, I don't know what it's going to try to do.

The Dragoon Brotherhood helped us save some data one of our operative had grabbed from the Cypherites. It seemed to be something about Danielle Wright, but very cryptic. That woman better not have any more skeletons tucked away. They've already got her and a lot of people in Zion killed.

She acts like she saw all of this coming. I just hope she's seen the rest of it. Either she has one hell of a plan, or she's crazy. Either way, I don't like the idea of her out there on her own.

We're losing people every day, and not just to the pod circuitry that cost us David Marlo. And we'll lose a lot more if we can't get a working red pill program that's safe from the Machines.

The Machines are moving too fast right now. We've got to get whatever we can out of danger, and we don't have time to be pretty about it.

I have to thank everyone who bailed me out on this last one in Creston, especially Tsusai and Asamodai of Pluribus Neo; usually, knowing EPN is eavesdropping on our comm broadcasts bugs me, but what can I say? This time I'm glad certain people were snooping.

Niobe

Thanks to everyone who helped track down the Cypherite spy, Daelyn, and bust her at the bottom of Zalmon Casino, just as she tried to hand over data on our defenses to Veil. A few more operations like that and the Cypherites will be out of business for good.

Niobe

We're going to have to get some of our critical data out of the Matrix before the Machines can get their hands on it. They're just moving too fast right now for us to be able to protect everything.

Neo bought us two years.

Let's show him it was enough.

-Niobe

Gotta be humiliating getting your butt handed to you by your own simulacrum. Nice of the General to make it clear that this thing was his creation all along. And if the old rust-bucket really is leaving after the repeated beat-downs we and everyone else have given him, that's the best news I've heard in a real long time.

The General's a temperamental S.O.B., but it looks like he assumes all his commandos will be good little soldiers and go right along with whatever orders he gives them. If he keeps this up, he'll find out the hard way that you can only push people so far, no matter who they are.

I don't know if it's the weather, the General's attacks, the fake Morpheus signals, the Cypherite mess, or all of the above, but it's starting to get to people. If we don't get some of this stuff sorted out soon, we're going to have even more trouble on our hands.

There are a lot of questions about these broadcasts, and so far, no real answers. All we've got are disconnected data blips, sweeping directives, and vague promises. Maybe that's how Morpheus used to operate, but I never liked it then, and I sure as hell don't like it now. If it is Morpheus, he'll have a lot of explaining to do once I get my hands on him, and if it's someone else...that's a lot easier for me, and a lot harder for them.

Seraph is one of the people who helped save the Matrix. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt...but it isn't easy when he's running around putting bluepills in the hospital. The Oracle trusts him, but how much longer can this go on before whatever good he thinks he's doing is outweighed by the damage he's already done?

It's so *CENSORED* frustrating when the people who are supposed to be on your side won't tell you what the hell they're doing.

People,

Keep your eyes open out there, because it looks like we've succeeded in pissing the General off. He dumped hundreds of commandos into Mara yesterday, trying to get at the Oracle. We're just lucky that by the time he managed to surround the Debir Court area entirely, we'd already got the Oracle moved to north Mara, where Aquilae, xTheSorrowsx, Roedrene, Alphaea, and Mas0r were camped out with her.

The General finally showed his wrinkly butt, now stuffed into an Elite Commando stealth suit, near Polyvinyl, and came *CENSORED* close to where the Oracle was holed up, but we got so many operatives into Mara Plaza that he couldn't budge. We *CENSORED* near crashed the whole place, but after we thrashed most of his troops the General bugged out, and we made short work of the few commandos he left behind.

We don't know what he may try next, so stay on your toes--seems like that bastard can pop up anywhere.

Captain Niobe

The General's back, and has kidnapped Sati. There's no way in hell we're gonna let that bastard take away the Oracle's favorite little girl.

The first order of business is locating the General. We assembled operatives in Mara, and organized into groups spread across the city tracking his helicopters and commandos.

These operatives were put in charge of collecting reports for the following districts:

Richland: vincefan2
Westview: JetBlack
International: Tbone
Downtown: PBlade

Operatives gathered all reports and sent them to liaison officer Soluma. With the information they got us, we were able to put together these charts of commando activity across the city that day:

Richland & Westview

International District

Downtown

Tbone sent Soluma this additional information:

"They seemed to circle the area, repeating the pattern as if they were looking for something or dropping something off. Then they would fly close to the road, avoiding going into neighborhoods, until they reached the next area, where they would once again circle around a few times."

All of this is going to be a big help as we go after the General. Good work, everyone.

Captain Niobe

We've known for a while now that a spy within a Zion hovercraft has been sending information to a Cypherite contact, Festaneve. Operative Neoteny and his crew succeed in tracking this spy, despite the Cypherites' assassination of an Exile, Hedrakelik, who provided some crucial clues. The operatives finally discovered the spy's name: Conneron. I contacted Neoteny and helped him and the other operatives on the case locate Conneron in the Matrix and force him to jack out, to be promptly arrested and taken into custody by the very crewmates he had been spying on.

Operative Neoteny showed exceptional resourcefulness in tracking down this spy over a period of many months. We have to assume there are still people around willing to sell Zion out for money, but today, at least there's one less.

Captain Niobe

I'll say one thing for Brenda: she knows how to throw a party. Pendhurst-Amaranth is back in the swing of things since we got them out of their Unlimit problem. Brenda wouldn't say exactly what she's planning for P-A, but it's got to be better than whatever Anome thought he was doing.

People,

An employee at Pendhurst-Amaranth headquarters, named Duncan Post, contacted us recently--said he had something we should see. Liaison officer Soluma lead a group of operatives downtown to meet with Mr. Post, but instead they encountered Tancred, an Unlimit soldier previously spotted masquerading as a P-A security guard at their Southard plant.

I don't know if Tancred was trying to scare us off or what, but it didn't work, and with more operatives arriving on the scene, he was finally taken down after a long battle in the main plaza.

With Tancred out of the way, operatives were able to locate Mr. Post, who handed Soluma a purse containing Brenda Utley's Pendhurst-Amaranth ID card. Post works in the central garbage processing plant at their headquarters, and said that he found the purse in among the rest of the trash from the facility. A check on the ID card showed it had been used there recently.

We know that someone made Utley disappear, and tried to cover it up. Tancred and this purse are just too coincidental, and I don't believe in coincidences. I'd say this is a clear sign that Unlimit is operating from Pendhurst-Amaranth headquarters, and that they have Utley there--hopefully, still alive. Now we have to figure out how to get to her.

We were able to get some data from the battle, on the basis of which I commended the following operatives:

Soldiers who did the most damage to Tancred (starting with the most):

TheHostileIntention
DA6ONET
Yasamuu
DrBadTouch

Hackers who did the most damage to Tancred (starting with the most):

Mastatec
bellthazor
venom88
Broin

Special commendation for exceptional rezzing during the operation:

Vtech01

Additional commendation for being the first to engage Tancred, and getting in the kill shot:

TheHostileIntention

There are a lot of contributions that we can't add up, and there were plenty of other people there who made this operation work. I can't thank all of you personally, but believe me, your help is greatly appreciated.

Captain Niobe

Everyone,

We sent a team down to Southard to find out just who it was at the Pendhurst-Amaranth plant down there that sent out the order to delete Brenda Utley's employee record from their database. This team was hand-picked by liaison officer Merrit, after she ran our operatives through a tough training session. The operatives chosen were Alphaea, Altoids, Aquatium, DarkGhst, Deffdog, Gruk, Ic3b3rg, MathalosVR, Mave, Neoteny, Orexis, Premeir, Ravenmist, Ryumanjisen, Valheru, Ventio, Zacarias, and zdn1.

We disguised the team as members of the local Guillotine gang, and sent them off to Southard. They found a P-A security guard named "Tancred" patrolling around the P-A plant. He gave them a lot of lip, and he got a lot back. After the operatives beat down the reinforcements he called in, he lost his cool, revealed himself as an Unlimit soldier, fried everyone, and took off before our operatives could be revived.

I don't have to tell you that if Unlimit has wormed their way into the city's largest corporation, we have a serious problem on our hands.

We need to find out how deep this goes. With Brenda Utley still missing--and yeah, it sure looks like that has Unlimit written all over it, now--our options our limited. But I bet you that if we can follow Tancred, he'll lead us right to the bastards at the bottom of all this. We need to find out everything we can about that slimeball. Tyndall will be in touch when we've got something to go on.

Captain Niobe

Tungsten and her goons tried hitting Pendhurst-Amaranth HQ downtown, but thanks to intelligence we'd received, our people were waiting for them. Sounds like Tungsten was a real psycho--as if that wasn't obvious enough from her widespread poisoning of popular food products.

A whole lot of people helped out on this one. Our number crunchers said that these operatives put the biggest hurting on Tungsten:

Olbaid
Capucine
Deeboman
Aquatium
zdn1

and IR0N was the guy who actually finished her off after a long battle. Congratulations to them, to the operatives who helped keep everyone else on their feet when Tungsten was laying people out right and left, to those who helped gather intelligence on the attack, and to everyone who was there helping bring her down.

I was told that another Unlimit oozer came by right after Tungsten was taken out--his name was "Crop," but he pulled a real quick hit and run. Keep an eye out for anything more about him.

Niobe

It's been a long time since I talked to the Oracle. She has that *CENSORED* way of answering your questions with another question, and you always know she isn't telling you everything. Still, talking with her can help...put things in perspective. She watches us live, die, change, while she remains the same. She's the closest thing we have to a god--a little old lady who lives in a small apartment and bakes cookies for strangers. I don't think I'll ever get used to it.

The more people I talk to, the more people I find who want to kick Anome's *CENSORED*. Seems like he did a pretty good job of pissing everyone off while I was out of it. He's on a one-way street now, only he doesn't see where it's going. We'd accept his surrender if he gave it, but I know he won't. Not Anome. He's never admitted his mistakes, and I don't think he's about to start.

Racon joins Merrit and Cephaus as a liaison officer. I'm sure you'll accord him the same respect you give them. He's earned it, and will continue to do so. - Niobe

Racon

"Good day, operatives of Zion. There are those of you who know me and those of you who might not, I’m sure many fall under the latter, so an introduction of sorts would be proper if we’re to work together in the future.

"I was awakened by a pair of Zion operatives shortly after, what I now know to be as, the code bombings triggered by Morpheus.

"I remember it was a cool and crisp night as I waited for the City Transit to come to a stop outside of Metro Café. I needed to unwind with a latte and some music with friends. The radio within the café had reported of incidents on the other side of the city; terrorists had bombed the areas surrounding both the Camon and Mara Congregational Churches.

"Rumors and speculation on motives were whispered throughout the café, many were frightened by the unusual circumstances surrounding the attacks. I shared their anxieties. A few of the regulars sitting in a booth were reading the latest Mega City Informer reporting on the Health Crisis a couple of weeks earlier. Widespread anemia epidemics, identical crimson-eyed men in suits, and now terrorist bombings without explosions; it seemed that fiction and reality were one of the same in the minds of those writers.

"I finished my drink, paid my tab, and headed out for a walk to Center Park to sit and gaze. As I walked, footsteps echoed from the rooftops and gutters above until a figure cloaked in black vaulted from the rooftops onto the ground ahead of me. The bald man opened up a mail station and dropped a parcel within it. He muttered of a dream, a truth, and a savior as a faint beeping began to pierce through his monologue. It was Morpheus, and he had just left a code bomb to reveal the truth.

"Looking back, I don’t know what I was thinking at the time. Parcels combined with beeping are never a good sign. The people around me seemed oblivious to the circumstance, shrugging off the prattler. Morpheus looked up and turned to run through the streets as two operatives materialized from the air above, shaking the ground as they landed.

"A muffled female voice counted down from within the mailbox. As the count reached zero, I suddenly felt myself being lifted into the air. The two operatives who had been chasing Morpheus had saved me from the blast. I looked back to see a flash of green darkness spreading from the mailbox. I fainted. When I awoke, I found myself in an extraction point with the two operatives. I learned of the truth of the situation and decided to join the ranks of humanity in a fight for freedom.

"Through constructs and programs, I became experienced in combat and reconnaissance and worked as a part of a unit focused on data retrieval and manipulation operations. Information is power within the Matrix, and it was our duty to seek and retrieve it. After many successful ventures, my comrades were killed in the Cypherite sabotage of the Hoverbarge Terra Nova. With the loss of my comrades and friends, I removed myself from the field to work within Zion.

"I was appointed to monitoring hoverbarge and hovercraft transmissions as a communications specialist. It was my duty to analyze data sent in from the field and relay information from the Zion Archives and operatives to others. After a few months on the job, I was informed of the Council’s intent to add another liaison to the field along side of Merrit and Cephaus.

"I decided that it was time to return to the Matrix. It was time to fight along side the operatives of Zion.

"With a new purpose in mind, I applied for the position as an organizational representative and met with the Zion Council to learn of its duties and responsibilities. A few weeks later, after a considerable amount of tests and training exercises, the Council approved my promotion and I was appointed to the third liaison position aboard the Logos II.

"Through determination and diligence, I will work side by side with you, fellow Zionites, to further our agenda and provide a voice to the Council and our organization. Lared Golding is but a relic of the past, a blinded dreamer who is now awakened, for Zion has removed the blindfold and revealed the truth.

"I am Racon, a soldier of Zion, a soldier of humanity."

I don't do many recruiting runs myself. But sometimes you run across someone accidentally, someone who you look at and know that they've seen something they can't quite explain. That's how it was with me and Seraneth. He's a liaison officer for us now, and a **bleep** good one. For those of you who haven't met him yet, this is his story, in his own words. -- Niobe

Seraneth

"My name was Thomas Franklin.

"Before I knew of the Matrix, Zion... the Merovingian or any of this, my name was Thomas Franklin. I was an Information Systems technician for a company called Internet Solutions. I had a normal daily routine, I had a day job that I enjoyed and led a somewhat normal life. That was, of course, until that day four months ago. It may have been longer. When there are no set calendars or dates to go by anymore, you kind of lose track of things. But regardless, it was roughly 120 days ago that my life changed forever.

"It was a Tuesday, I think, early in the morning as I was on my way to work. It had been raining that morning, I remember that. I stopped at a local coffee shop, like I always did, to get a pick-me-up before taking the subway downtown to the office. But that day wasn’t normal like every other day before this one. No, this one was the mother of all life changers. As I entered the coffee shop, my attention was brought to a small group of people towards the back of the room. They weren’t dressed like the normal folks I had seen here before. Though it was rainy and overcast, all of them were wearing sunglasses. Most of them dressed in black or dark colors, except for one of them. She wore a crimson trenchcoat and silvery sunglasses. The rest of the group seemed to be listening intently to whatever it was she had to say.

"I realized that I had been staring and tore my attention away from the odd group long enough to place my order, pay and then wait to be served. As I waited, I happened to overhear some of their conversation. I caught words like 'Assassin' and a name that was mentioned several times... 'Morpheus'. I recalled hearing that name in the news once or twice while watching television at home. As they spoke, I happened to look up towards the doors and notice several unsavory looking characters enter the coffee shop, their eyes locked on the group that I had been standing near.

"Without warning, the men that had just entered all pulled guns from within their jackets and aimed them towards the group at the back, but one of the guns was pointed right at me! One of them said, 'You’ve meddled in the affairs of the Merovingian for the last time, Zionites!' and then proceeded to open fire on the group. As soon as the gunfire began to erupt, I felt a hand on my shoulder pulling me down behind a nearby bookshelf and I was face to face with the woman I had seen with the group of strangers that had been attacked. She asked me if I was alright and when I told her I was, she proceeded to pull out a gun of her own and began returning fire!

"Somehow, I had gotten caught in the middle of some sort of gang war and I could hardly believe it! Within a few minutes, the gunfire subsided and several people, including all of the initial aggressors and some of those they had attacked, were dead. I was in shock at seeing so many dead bodies, I had never seen one before in my life. I had at a funeral, but this was totally different! But then something strange happened. Several of the bodies of the people that had been attacked suddenly disappeared. They simply changed into a ball of green light that faded out of existence! As far as I had known up until then, this was impossible, but now I know different.

"I looked to the woman who had rescued me and saw she was holding out her hand to me to help me up. I tentatively reached out and took her hand. She hauled me to my feet with little effort and looked around cautiously. She helped others to their feet, those she had come with who had not disappeared and told them to get to a hardline and return to their ships before police or agent presence arrived. I figured the police would be there shortly, but I was unfamiliar as to what sort of agent she meant. She then walked quickly back over to me and spoke.

"'You’ve seen a lot this morning, my friend.' She said, her voice surprisingly friendly for a woman who had just gunned down several people. 'I know you’ve seen some strange things here today. If you want answers... come with me, now.'

"I had seen some strange things in my lifetime, but nothing ever like this. I had heard stories of people seeing bodies just disappear, but I thought it was just urban legends and college pranks. I’d even heard of gang violence in the city, everyone had, but nothing ever this brutal. I decided that perhaps this woman could have some answers to the questions in my head, so I went with her.

"She led me from the building quickly and down into the nearby subway where we caught a train to Westview. I think we ended up in Stamos, but I can’t remember exactly where it was. I was still in a bit of shock having been in the middle of a violent gunfight not ten minutes earlier. She led me to a building near the subway where we took the elevator to the top floor. Once off the elevator, we entered an apartment filled with strange equipment and more people who looked like those I had seen in the coffee shop earlier that morning. She introduced herself as Niobe, a Captain of Zion.

"Niobe then proceeded to tell me about the Matrix and that the people I had seen killed were not really dead. This I found hard to believe until two of the people I had seen gunned down stepped into the room and greeted me. I almost fainted, but Niobe calmed me down and continued to explain to me about the Matrix and the Real world where she actually lived. She then told me I had to make a choice. She offered me one of two options to choose from. The first was a blue pill. She told me if I took it, I would wake up at home and be none the wiser about what I had seen today. The second was a red pill. She told me that if I took the red pill that my life would be forever changed and I would never be the same again.

"Obviously, I took the red pill. I decided that I wanted to know what it was I had seen and what there was out there for me. I had no idea what I was in store for, but I couldn’t let this chance slip away from me. I was freed from my pod and rescued by Niobe and her crew that very morning. A month later I was on my feet and going through basic Construct training aboard the Logos II with Sparks, my 'Operator'. I am still getting used to a lot of things. But I’m coming around slowly.

"About forty-five days after I was freed, I got to visit Zion for the first time. I got to see the city I had heard so much about from Sparks. Niobe didn’t seem to talk about it much, but then again she seemed very solitary. Sparks, on the other hand, was very loquacious. Always talking about this and that in Zion. It was from him that I learned about Neo and the war, as well as Morpheus and the end he met within the Matrix not long before my being freed from the system.

"Even though Niobe had freed me, I knew that in order to be on a Zion Hovercraft that I would have to be chosen for said position. That was when I learned that the Council of Zion was seeking someone to be their representative within the Matrix for Operatives of Zion. A… Liaison of sorts. Being a person who liked to keep themselves busy, and wanting to be able to contribute, I put my name in for the position. I went through an interview process with each of the Councilors and then waited to hear back from them.

"About a week after my interview with the Council, I was summoned back and informed that I would, indeed, be the man for the job and welcomed aboard. Another pleasant surprise was that Niobe had requested I be placed aboard her ship. Quite the honor considering that I owed her my life. So now, here I am. Aboard the Logos II, cruising the tunnels of the Real as we approach broadcast depth where I will be introduced by my Captain to the operatives of Zion.

"My name was Thomas Franklin. But now, my name is Seraneth... the Speaker."

To all Zion operatives,

We pretty much went over it all at Merrit's meeting. Remember, we need full coverage of all eight concert sites. The Sleepwalkers are bound to start whatever it is they're planning at those places, and we're going to be there to stop them. This is do or die time, people. And I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to die just yet.

Captain Niobe

Soldiers of Zion,

We've got a big problem on our hands. These "Sleepwalkers"--a group of redpills too radical even for the Cypherites, apparently--have launched a major assault on the city. As if that wasn't bad enough, we have to worry about them making good on their goal of forcing all redpills "back into the pods" somehow.

At a recent meeting in the city, operatives reported spotting some code leaks, and strange security patrols at the concert grounds that popped up around the city just when the Sleepwalkers first appeared. Our guess is that they're planning something for these areas. It's just a hunch, but it's all we've got so far. I've ordered 24-hour surveillance of all concert sites.

Our liaison officer, Alsos, will have more details for you, so contact him if you need to confirm your operating orders. You'll hear more as we get it.

Captain Niobe

To all Zion operatives--

You should know that Veil showed up in Tabor Park. Apparently she decided she was "rusty," and had to get in some "target practice" with throwing knives on the nearest available redpills. A pack of her Cypherite goons were with her, and they went on a nice little spree until our boys showed up. Veil got out through the hardline.

Veil is a Class A threat. Report any sighting to your controller ASAP. I don't suggest engaging her directly, 'cause she'll probably kick your *CENSORED*. We can't afford to take this woman lightly anymore, people. Study the attached surveillance scans carefully.

Captain Niobe