Ceylon's news and such

[Lynneth]

[b][Corporate announcement][/b]

"Proud to announce the latest in light- and laser-technology, Dahl presents:

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/futura/BattleLaser_Campbell.jpg[/img]
The DB-350 Flashlight Battle Laser. Using the latest in supercapacitor, lasing and precision lensing technology, this state-of-the-art directed energy weapon has a weight of 5.5 kilograms when loaded. It is capable of directing 50 pulses of firecracker-strength into a target over the course of 500 microseconds. That's half a millisecond, faster than your brain takes to tell the finger to pull the trigger. Lasing in near-infrared wavelengths, the Flashlight's beam is practically invisible unless there's a considerable amount of dust or pollen in its path, which will burrrrrn, if barely visible.
The DB-350 is, unlike most of our other products, not available commercially and will at the time only be provided to the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka. We do, of course, have other versions of this beam weapon, but they, too, are not available for the time being. They will eventually be, however! As soon as we're given the green light, you can expect to be able to arm yourself with the fastest gun there is!

Pre-order now!"

_______________________________________

[b][Classified][/b]
"Ugh, did they really have to do that?"
"Hey, they want money like anyone else. While the military deal was lucrative, they're not gonna stop unless they're officially banned from selling these t anyone else."
"Which would result in an outrage. People love Dahl's stuff, they're in almost every household."
"Exactly. Well-known and liked companies have just as much sway as one lobbying the government all the time, like, well, the tobacco industry."
"Heh, true. And then there's us."
"Now we'll just have to see what other nice inventions are brought to the 'light'. Dahl just made science fiction a reality for a lot of people."
"Indeed they did."

[Lynneth]

[center][url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/Whole_Foods_Tote_Bag_by_escranton296.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_Whole_Foods_Tote_Bag_by_escranton296.png[/img][/url][/center]

[b]Bringing a new taste to you, today[/b]

The latest taste, In Vitro foods.
Also known as cultured meat, this is an animal flesh product that has never been part of a complete, living animal. No suffering cows, pigs or chicken, yet tastes just like the real thing - and is the real thing!
Nowhere else can you find healthier, better meat than in Whole Foods' latest series of making the world taste even better. Anything is possible, from delicious buffalo meat over elephant to zebra. Anything, without hurting even a single animal.
You don't have to be Vegetarian anymore. Just buy In Vitro, and you can be sure the only ones who suffer are the purses of people who produce conventional meat!

_______________________________________

[center][url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/010874.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_010874.jpg[/img][/url]
[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/ENSI_logo_by_RBDK.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_ENSI_logo_by_RBDK.jpg[/img][/url][/center]

[b]Presenting a joint-project by ENSI and Ultor,[/b]

We are proud to announce the launch of the world's first open cyberspace server, utilizing latest technologic advances in SSD drives, near-quantum computing and the most convincing digital world you have ever seen.
Almost perfect, total immersion is now possible, using the UE VR Mark One system. While there are no compatible games as of now, you can already use our cyberspace servers to meet people all over the nation with the same ease as walking out of your home and going to the bar. It's easier than that, in fact!
Just create an account, put on your equipment and login to the most realistic digital experience there is. Unique in the world, and only real if made by Ultor and ENSI.

[Lynneth]

"Who [b]are[/b] they?"
"I've no idea. They just appeared from nowhere."
"It's...Jesus. Their stocks have skyrocketed in the few weeks they've been on the market. This is insane."
"I'm not sure where they got the funds from. Probably puppet companies that aren't affiliated with Sostra."
"There's plenty of those. Powerful as we are, we don't control everything in Sri Lanka."
"True. Still, this completely, totally unexpected rise...One would think we'd hear of them establishing themselves, plans about going onto the stock market and all."
"Hrm...We need to investigate this."
"This is serious."

_______________________________________

[center][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/Sarif.png[/img]

[b][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdERgfgB9Yc"]Advertisement[/url][/b]

"We will help you [i]explore[/i] your talents in ways you've [url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/Trejoe_Ripper_by_IISketchII.jpg"]never[/url] dreamed possible.
Help you [url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/1302332368702.jpg"]see[/url] the world...as you've never seen it before, and [i]share[/i] more with the ones you love.
With our augmentations, we will [i]help[/i] you - and your family - [url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/deus_kai_by_gavade-d38upoc.jpg"]live[/url] the life you've always imagined.

Sarif Industries. To learn more, visit SarifIndustries.sl."[/center]

Edited May 3, 2011 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

With recent advances, certain technologic branches were growing with incredible speed.
3D printing technology, for example, was on the rise. Dozens and dozens of factories had already been retooled for utilizing 3D printing technology, making it possible for each to produce any range of compatible products. Sri Lanka's manufacturing sector was booming, exports of finished goods rising while imports of raw materials surged upwards.
The company tresponsible for this technology, [i]Crey[/i], was making unprecedented profits.
And they attempted to protect their invention elsewhere too, trying to get patents in nations such as the UFE or Mogatopia to prevent anyone else from making profits on building and selling these machines. This was magnified by the fact that they were deliberately restricting their own software to be incapable of manufacturing further 3D printers or parts for them, unless the printer was set by a specialist to be licensed.

Crey was going for a worldwide monopoly. They wanted to make all the money they could from this, and it was perfectly legal in Sri Lanka for them to pursue this goal.
How other nations would react to this was another story.

[Lynneth]

New technologies change things. Some less, others more. The recent reveal of virtual reality by ENSI and Ultor was already changing how some people looked at life and their virtual perosnas. Those very first ones were, of course, already unstable. Unable to function normally in real life, a normal society, they fled into these simulated worlds.
Slowly at first, only some minutes a day, perhaps an hour or two. Mere weeks after the introduction of the system, the first dead was found in his home, having spent days in an imaginary place to flee from reality.
A court ruled the incident to be suicide, but Ultor recalled any VR stations they could. The first Virtual Reality café was opened barely six months after the technology's introduction.

At least it was harder to stay there now - people could stay a maximum of six hours a day, then were simply, if gently, disconnected. Afterwards, they would be ushered out of the café, at which point they could simply enter a different one.
If someone managed to kill himself in this way, it no longer was the concern of the corporations - they offered food and drink in the cafés, after all.

_______________________________________

Meanwhile, Sarif industries made incredible amounts of money. The orders were just pouring in, with the vast majority coming from the rich strata. Few of the middle class and practically none of the lower class could afford the supremely expensive augmentations, which were very much unlike prosthetics.
Prosthetics were used in case a limb was lost and mostly were non-moving, simply there. Prosthetic hands could barely grasp, legs were essentially sophisticated springs and eyes were often just glass, only the most expensive replacements allowing actual vision.
Sarif's augmentations were not for medical purposes at all. They were there to augment and, in some cases, entirely replace functioning limbs and body parts, to push them beyond their natural limits.
Augmentations were not a necessity for the crippled, but a luxury for the rich. This little fact soon began to trickle down into the minds of the lower, less-than-rich classes.
They would widen the gap between classes even more.



OOC: Just a note, in the Sarif ad further up, there's several links. Everything that's underlined, including the 'Advertisement' text.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

Adding to the recent trend of rapid modernisation of Sri Lanka's capabilities and technologies, [i]Dahl[/i], [i]Ultor[/i] and [i]ENSI[/i] have announced large-scale cooperation in replacing the current standard of copper-, gold- and otherwise metal-based electronics with photonic electronics.
These would require only little more electricity, but bring several major advantages such as being hard to be jammed or fried, being quite lighter and making actual quantum computers feasible - if not for consumers, then for the state and military.
Still, the average computer will be able to do much more with less. According to some prognoses, we can expect the first rudimentary artificial intelligence - not just virtual helpers that appear to be realistic and just have a lot of various responses for any situation.
The major thing that makes this juicy for our armed forces is of course practically immunising the entire military to EMP strikes.

In a statement by theDirectorate of Defence, the [i]Directorate Executive[/i] said that the transition to photonics would take between one and three years, depending on the area of application, with the first being important government facilities.

[Lynneth]

[b][Colombo, Sri Lanka][/b]

Just hours ago, President Rajapaksa announced that it would attempt to expand Sri Lanka's space program with a major and extremely important component:
Clean-up crews.
You heard right. After all, Earth's orbit is littered with the wreckage of hundreds of satellites, a great number of them shot down by nations that like to make space travel incredibly dangerous.
Currently, observatories both on Earth and in GEO are attempting to map the paths of the largest debris fields. At the same time, three ships are being build, specifically designed to scoop up the trash and bring it to Sri Lanka's lunar base for recycling into new materials that will aid the expansion.

The project will take several years, but in the end clean up earth's orbit enough so that any nation will be able to safely launch a satellite without having to consider space trash as much. Safety of space travel will rise by up to 1,000%!

Edited May 9, 2011 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

[b][Government cracks down on porn ring][/b]

Two hours ago, President Rajapaksa announced that a raid was conducted in the early hours of the 12th, yesterday, in which a large, well-organised porn ring was taken out.
Some two hundred homes were raided in this operation, with pornography of juveniles was found in almost 80% of the homes. In five cases, rented homes had been raided, with alleged 'tourists' from the UFE and Burma having been arrested for the time being.

With this raid, the largest in recent history, one of Sri Lanka's biggest child-porn rings was practically annihilated, say authorities.
Most of the minors depicted have already been found and rescued.

Those who were within the homes at the time of the raids are now faced with serious charges, facing up to 50 years in prison.

[Bacharth]

Stores across Cascadia would request purchase of In Vitro meat, first as an addition to their regular meat section to test the waters of this new meat market. Burgerville, the only standing fast food chain in Cascadia, would continue growing their own beef on local farms across the nation.

[Lynneth]

[quote name='Vince Sixx' timestamp='1305335248' post='2711564']
Stores across Cascadia would request purchase of In Vitro meat, first as an addition to their regular meat section to test the waters of this new meat market. Burgerville, the only standing fast food chain in Cascadia, would continue growing their own beef on local farms across the nation.
[/quote]
Whole Foods would, of course, gladly deliver In Vitro meat to these stores. Thanks to treatment methods that couldn't be applied to normal meat, the grown meat's 'Best before...' date was between three days and several months longer - depending on the type of meat, cooling method, etcetera of course - than that of normal food.
To accelerate delivery and guarantee better supply, Whole Foods began to plan for some facilities in Cascadia to produce the In Vitro meat in.

[Lynneth]

[b][Space-related][/b]

In record time, the ships to remove debris and space-junk from the planet's orbit had been finished. With this major advance, safety of space travel was expected to rise significantly within the first weeks, and tenfold over the course of the next years.
Obviously, cleaning up the entire orbit would take decades of work, even with several more cleaning ships, and revenue would drop rapidly after a relatively short time. Still, for the safety of future endeavours, the three cleaning ships would remain in service for as long as possible.

Construction on the Lunar City had continued, of course. By now, almost 600,000 people would be able to live in the habitats. Around 95,000 did so already.
Curiously, the vast majority were former citizens of the GDR, or their descendants.
It was expected that within 2 years, construction would be finished. Within five years, the city could be filled to capacity, more than a million people.
From then on, further expansion was an option, on the lunar surface, or with massive colonies in space itself. Either was possible. Neither was impossible.
The problem was funding.

[Lynneth]

[b][Classified][/b]

"Recent advances in technology have had unprecedented effects on our manufacturing capabilities, most of all the ability to produce the DB-350 laser weapon.
Previously, estimates were that we could keep around 10,000 in proper working order without too high expenses. This has been changed by vast improvements in 3D printing technologies, amongst other things. We estimate that we could replace a considerable amount of the old SLAR-21 rifles with Dahl's technology, in the order of some hundred thousand, potentially."

"That sounds too good to be true."

"It may be. Building these weapons still is expensive, but with further research, we will likely be able to manufacture it for similar expenses as the standard rifle. Perhaps a sniper version, too."

"Sniper?"

"Yes. Hard, but possible."

"Hrm."

"It's not a major item on the list. Currently, Dahl is focussing on other rifle variants, perhaps a heavy battle laser to aid heavy machine guns. Pistols are on the list as well."

"Pistols?"

"The equivalent, at least. They'll probably look more like cameras than what you see in Star Wars or other Science Fiction."

"Obviously. Reality is quite different from fiction."

"But, anyways. We can equip more than a single division with the new weapons. It'll take a while, but it's certainly possible."

"Excellent. Dahl was a good investment."

"It does seem so."

Edited May 27, 2011 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

[b][Spess][/b]

[b]Sri Lankan announcement[/b]
"Sri Lanka is proud to announce, the immediate space around our beautiful planet is cleaner than it has ever been in the last decades. An estimated 200,000 objects over a centimeter in size have been captured, though many hundred thousand more remain.
Even though the potential for making money from this project will drop to practically nil once all objects above five centimeters in size have been captured, we will continue to clean our mother world's orbits.
If any other nation wishes to help, simply say so and we will cooperate with you to build another cleaning ship or keep the current once maintained.

Space is big. Thank you for your help."



Meanwhile, construction of the lunar city continued, as it had for the last eighteen years or so*.
It had been going faster in recent days, mostly thanks to 3D printing technology, and a good 750,000, three quarters of a million, could potentially live on the natural satellite.
Of all this potential space, around 18% was currently used, with 135,000 people living in the colony. An immense amount, especially because they needed very little in the way of imports from their homeworld.
Water had been found in unexpected amounts, both at the lunar poles and deep underground. Under high pressure, practically in gaseous form, and without the minerals expected in a river on earth. It had to be cleaned of anyhing humans could not use, and this process was extensive, if relatively simple.
It did contribute to further potential self-reliance.

[Captain Enema]

[b]Private to Sri Lanka[/b]

We beg of you to consider lumping all of the captured space debris into one large object and dropping it on Korea.

[king of cochin]

Cochin Space Research Organization pledges to assist Sri Lanka in the cleaning operations in the orbits of the earth. A flight of 3 Skylon Orbital Transfer Vehicles have been tasked to assist the Sri Lankan initiatives in this matter and we also offer Sri Lanka refueling facilities from our Orbital Refueling Station for the clean up operations.

[HHAYD]

OOC: Would it be rude to fire some prototype explosive ICBMs in the Low Earth Orbit to crate a few hundred thousand to million additional space shrapnel (after MR's civil war is over)?

Edited May 28, 2011 by HHAYD

[Lynneth]

[quote name='Tidy Bowl Man' timestamp='1306497091' post='2718946']
[b]Private to Sri Lanka[/b]

We beg of you to consider lumping all of the captured space debris into one large object and dropping it on Korea.


[/quote]
[b][Private reply][/b]

"We will consider it, but cannot promise anything.
An 'accident' could occur, of course."

[quote name='king of cochin' timestamp='1306506568' post='2718993']
Cochin Space Research Organization pledges to assist Sri Lanka in the cleaning operations in the orbits of the earth. A flight of 3 Skylon Orbital Transfer Vehicles have been tasked to assist the Sri Lankan initiatives in this matter and we also offer Sri Lanka refueling facilities from our Orbital Refueling Station for the clean up operations.
[/quote]
"We thank the Kingdom for their generous assistance. We will of course provide plans regarding the necessary modifications for the Skylon OTVs for them to be effective in helping to clean the planet's orbit."

[quote name='HHAYD' timestamp='1306549511' post='2719280']
OOC: Would it be rude to fire some prototype explosive ICBMs in the Low Earth Orbit to crate a few hundred thousand to million additional space shrapnel (after MR's civil war is over)?
[/quote]
OOC: Very rude. So, don't. >:|

[Lynneth]

[b][Corporate news][/b]

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/57921_f.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_57921_f.png[/img][/url][url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/57922_f.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_57922_f.png[/img][/url]

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/57923_f.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_57923_f.png[/img][/url][url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/57924_f.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_57924_f.png[/img][/url]

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/57926_f.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_57926_f.png[/img][/url][url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/57927_f.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_57927_f.png[/img][/url]

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/57925_f.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_57925_f.png[/img][/url][url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/57928_f.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_57928_f.png[/img][/url]

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/57929_f.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_57929_f.png[/img][/url][url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/57930_f.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_57930_f.png[/img][/url]


[b][Classified][/b]

The first finished prototypes of the new suit would be delivered to Sri Lanka's Armed Forces and Vanguard within a month of the announcement.
What hadn't been included inthese news was the fact that the suits had been equipped with experimental active camouflage in the visible spectrum, using and perfecting technology that had been known for well over two decades.
Semi-active camo - also known as chameleon camouflage - had been in use for quite some time, capable of changing its colours to actively look closer to the current environment. While still in use, hopes were that the active camouflage, which basically worked by redirecting most visible light around the wearer, would eventually be able to fully replace it.
As of now, the new technology used too much power to be used for more than approximately 20 seconds. Still more than enough to bring considerable advantages to the user.
Around 10,000 of the SLAF and 3,000 of Vanguard's operatives were expected to receive the suits over the next 4 months.

[Lynneth]

[b][Classified][/b]

"...What did you just say?"
[i]"You heard me right. We have to open the vault."[/i]
"Open the vault? Are you insane? It's not supposed to be opened for decades!"
[i]"Things have changed. We need to update the records within. Too much new technology has been developed in the last few years."[/i]
"But we...we can't just [i]open[/i] them. The people in there were indoctrinated, they're expecting a wasteland of a world!"
[i]"Which may happen soon enough. Dark clouds are gathering on the metaphorical horizon."[/i]
"The conflict in the north? Seriously?"
[i]"Yes. We mustn't forget our allies. Neither must we allow ourselves to be destroyed."[/i]
"Then I propose we don't actually open the vault. We establish contact with the overseer. We get him to add the new information."
[i]"That is a solution, if he can keep it secret."[/i]
"Of course he can. The man's competent."
[i]"True enough. Now I can begin to worry about our lunar project."[/i]
"The colony is still under construction. There, I can understand your apprehensions."
[i]"We need to pour all resources into that project. Everything we can, and if it bankrupts Sri Lanka."[/i]
"Are you sure?"
[i]"I am."[/i]
"And I see nothing wrong with it. I will inform Rajapaksa."

_____________________

[b][Still classified][/b]

"Are you insane?! I'm not going to bankrupt this nation for your ambitions, Leclerc! Genius as your father was and you are supposed to be, this is madness! I cannot do this!"
[i]"...I take it that this is a no?"[/i]
"Yes, this is a no. A big no. What are you thinking?"
[i]"Events are happening that might be detrimental to the nation. In order to keep it alive, we have to tae necesary steps."[/i]
"By bankrupting it?!"
[i]"Sostra controls, through itself and daughter corporations, far over 60% of Sri Lanka's monetary assets. Money is of little issue."[/i]
"I still cannot possibly permit this. Regardless of expenses, this would ruin this nation. Too many of what is supposed to be exports would have to be dedicated!"
[i]"I see you continue to be defiant."[/i]
"I continue to do only what's best for the nation! I don't act like some egotistical little ba-" [i]"I quite understand what you are saying, thank you. Very well."[/i]
[i]Click. [/i]
"What...just hung up..? !@#$!"

_____________________

[b][Again classified][/b]

[i]"He refused."[/i]
"Hrm...Then we'll have to take the appropriate steps, won't we?"
[i]"Possibly. Unless you think you can sway him?"[/i]
"No. He's and his lackeys have been sitting there for long enough, anyways."
[i]"Benefitting from us?"[/i]
"Yes. Now, we have things to do."
[i]"I just hope this'll turn out to be unecessary."[/i]
"Nothing is ever unnecessary. Especially not what we are about to do. It's long overdue, in fact."
[i]"If you say so. All hail us, then"[/i]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/gooddayanon.jpg[/img]

Edited June 4, 2011 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/futura/tbhd_Deus_Ex_3_-_05.jpg[/img]

"The target is confirmed. Continue tailing him?"
[i]Confirmed. Wait until he's home.[/i]
"My house is my castle, here I am king."
[i]Just make sure he doesn't see you.[/i]
"Naturally."
The agent shut the mic off, looking through the sidewindow of his car. He had arranged for another agent to exit the building the moment the mark started his engine.
His own was already running, but electric. Unlike the mark's, which was hybrid and thus quite audible.
Audible enough, at least. The other agent was suddenly at the car and had opened the door already.
The man on the wheel looked over his shoulder, saw the mark's vehicle beginning to drive. After waiting a few seconds, he began to follow.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/futura/Sebastien_Larroude_-_01.jpg[/img]
Keeping a respectable distance, naturally.

After around an hour and dense traffic despite the clock having rang one in the morning already, the target vehicle slowed down.
"Unusual location. Nightclub?"
"Think he knows he's being followed?"
"Testing, maybe. Going to drive around the corner there and let you out."
It had begun to rain in the meantime. "Got an umbrella?"
"Should be besides you."
"Thanks."

The vehicles moved around the corner, stopped almost immediately when it was out of sight, and the second agent left the car. Unlike what one would think, he wasn't wearing a black suit with sunglasses.
He wasn't even looking like a special agent.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/futura/Matt_Bradbury_-_Followed_in_the_Crowd.jpg[/img]
He was looking like any other Sri Lankan could look like. And he walked into the nightclub he had seen the mark walk into.
The club itself was far above the streets, like quite a few others, but the reception was barely above the ground, in the 2nd storey.

One had to take an elevator to get up there. Walking the stairs was not recommended.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/futura/Rudolf_Herczog_-_Future_World.jpg[/img]

"Now," whispered the agent to himself, "where did he go..?"

[Lynneth]

[i]'There you are..'[/i]
The agent smirked to himself, having found the mark's track again. Not bad, using the nightclub to get into the back, where few people went. Usually only the janitors or maintenance staff.
[i]'Least I know now that you know you're being followed.'[/i]

Now just where was he going, thought the agent. There were a few offices in the back, but no connection to another building. Jumping the gap was hard, even with a running start.
So what was he doing?

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/futura/RobertDBrown_-_Hallway.jpg[/img]
The agent continued to follow his mark through hallways that would never be seen by many, yet were designed to look pleasing to the eye. [i]'Idiotic architecture.'[/i]
Then, he lost the mark for a moment. It was out of sight, and he moved a little faster, peeking around the corner to see whether it was still there.
He saw the muzzle of a Vanguard 10mm pistol, froze and heard his mark say, "Nice job following me. Bad job figuring out traps."
The agent didn't even have time to register the muzzle flash.

_____________________

"His life signs just dropped to zero."
"What? Did he get killed?"
"Apparently, his mark lured him into a trap. We can't access the video files. The bullet destroyed the camera utterly."
"Oh goddamn. Paranoid $%&@."
"Shall we send a kill team?"
"Yes, yes. Do that."
"Where to?"
"His home. He'll probably want to get better weapons. He has that at home."
"Understood."

_____________________

[b][Around 20 minutes later][/b]

Panting, he slammed the door shut behind himself, locking it. The door was sturdy, as was the wall it was built into. Reinforced concrete, a full 20 centimeters thick. Nothing short of a tank could blow through the wall.
And if they tried, there still were automatic defense turrets spread through the spacious flat. His private lodging when he wasn't busy in his job.
With a sigh, he proceeded to the armoury in a secured room.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/futura/Jamga_-_Armory_Corridor.jpg[/img]
There, he took a SLAR 21 and some ammunition from the rack, closing the entire thing afterwards. It was controlled by a DNA- and retina scan.
"Now they can try and get at me..."
He walked into the living room, where he began rearranging the furniture. Barricades, cover, everything to prepare for a prolonged firefight while not obstructing his automatic defenses.
Being rich, important and powerful had its advantages.

Now, it was a waiting game.

_____________________

[b][40 minutes later][/b]

"Raven's nest, approaching designated target area. ETA 2 minutes."
[i]"Acknowledged, Gamma one. Initiate[/i] Icarus. [i]But be careful, target is armed and dangerous."[/i]
"Understood. But expecting a ground assault."
[i]"Like any sane man. Godspeed."[/i]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/1298087743451.jpg[/img]
Team Gamma lifted off the ground, rising up into the sky and towards the roof of the building. Near the top of the 150-meter construction with a flat roof was the target's apartment, fortified relatively heavily for being owned by a civilian.
The ascent took 40 seconds. Another 20 seconds to carefully land on the roof, as to not alert the target. A minute until the jetpacks were taken off carefully enough to not make a sound.

All preparations were done.

[Lynneth]

[b][General News][/b]

Today, several hundred people have gathered before Sarif Industries' offices, protesting against the company for various reasons. Some of them say they dislike that the augmentations are so expensive, others claim to want to stop the practise altogether, finding it unethical, unnatural or the like. The latter group, finding augmentation technology to be unnatural, outnumber all other protestors by approximately ten to one.
Sarif Industries has responded by requesting that the protestors move so customers could get into the building. The demonstrators have not responded yet, and the request presumably was or will be denied. Sarif Industries may ask the Police Department of Colombo for aid, though this could very quickly end in a riot, depending on the measures taken. It is possible that the police will simply establish a parameter for the demonstrants to demonstrate, while leaving access to the building and its clinics open.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/12963329378.jpg[/img]

At the time, relatively little personnel of the PDC is at the scene.




OOC: Yes, I have intertubes here, but no access to the map. Sorry. :V

Edited June 8, 2011 by Lynneth

[HHAYD]

OOC: Why does Sarif and the plot seem to ring a bell in my head? [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex:_Human_Revolution"]Oh wait...[/url]

Edited June 8, 2011 by HHAYD

[Lynneth]

A powerful explosion rocked the building. He looked up, and it began dawning on him: They were coming over the roof!
But he'd heard no helicopters. How could they...The Code2 project perhaps? Was it useful already?

It seemed so, as he changed position to look into the living room. They would come through the large windows there, and in force, guns blazing. He wanted to take at least two down with him, though he wasn't sure whether the gun would do that. If they were equipped with Ultor's Mark 2 prototypes, things would get ugly. Very ugly.
Then another explosion. Glass crashed loudly, falling into the flat and over a hundred meters down, onto the pedestrian way. Being in the middle of the night, nobody would be hurt, but the smoke and noise had likely woken half the neighbourhood already.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/1184674144324.jpg[/img]
They rapelled in just as he had thought. Without contemplating things further, he opened fire, trying to aim for the head or chest. The latter was not the most vulnerable part of the armor, but it was the largest target. And a soldier was trained to aim there, unless he was a sniper.

Five minutes later, the team left the building again, with only one wounded operative during the operation. Pure luck. Had the mark aimed a little higher, he'd have killed the man and been able to take out a second operative.
Two minutes after they had left, a massive explosion rocked the construction, a fireball rising up into the sky.

What was necessary had been done. Not only here, one might add.

_____________________

[b][Sri Lankan Announcement][/b]

"Today, the terrorist cell known as 'Cult of the Dreamer' attacked the homea of several high-ranking members of the Sri Lankan government. Unfortunately, among the dead is President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as well as dozens of vital members of parliament from both coalition and opposition parties.
At the time, Sri Lanka is without a properly functioning government, despite the Prime Minister - Ranil Wickremesinghe - being stated to be the President's successor in the event of the President becoming unavailable. Emergency elections are not in sight as the remaining members of parliament argue over the best solution for the crisis, the PM unable to unite the squabbling groups.

More as the situation develops."







[quote name='HHAYD' timestamp='1307552949' post='2727068']
OOC: Why does Sarif and the setting seem to ring a bell in my head? [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex:_Human_Revolution"]Oh wait...[/url]
[/quote]
OOC: I am proud of you and your deduction skills.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Jawsome/th_13.png[/img]


OOC Edit: Meanwhile, people are free to comment.
It's more fun with people saying stuff. Long as it's not a stupid single-sentence post

Edited June 8, 2011 by Lynneth

[iKrolm]

[b]Question from a Manila Times reporter:[/b]

Have Sri Lankan authorities have determined if a link exists between this terrorist cell and the Cult of the Dreamer religion of the last decade?

Edited June 9, 2011 by iKrolm