A Web of Intrigue

Take out Council base in retaliation

Okay, I have something for you, but, well, it's not up to someone of your caliber. It's grun twork, and they gave it to me because someone, and I'm not entirely sure who, is trying to sandbag me. Weigh me down with menial tasks. Can you believe it? Someone like me, someone designated for greatness, for the highets ranks. Well, it's a good thing I have resources. I have allies. Allies like you. So, here's the deal: The Council raided one of our bases, and now I have to organize a strike on the base they came from. Getting together forces and authorizing expenditures will tak me half a week, and I don't have time for that. Or, I can ask you to handle this for me. Not as a favour. You're a professional, I wouldn't do that to you. It'll be full pay for you and any one you choose. Full pay for all of you. I just need this situation dealt with.

Take out the base. Take out everyone in the base. These Council guys, I swear, what is with them? I don't know why Lord Recluse doesn't just crush them. Maybe it's because he used to work with them way back in the thirties. And I'm not criticizing Lord Recluse, let me make that clear, but if that's his reason, I think he should reconsider it. Sentiment, as a concept, is outmoded. Just like loyalty, or morality, it only holds you back.

Arachnos and the Council fight a lot, but something seems strange this time.

Objective: The base leader spat out something strange under interrogation.

It was retaliation!

After the battle in the Council base, the base's defeated leader spat out the following under interrogation:

'We did what we had to do even the battle. Our counter-attack was provoked by the outrages of Arachnos! It was retaliation, pure and simple! We will not allow Arachnos to steal from our computer network without consequence!
For Arakhn!
For Requiem!
And all for the Center!'

Mission Complete: You took out the base, but something the base leader said stays with you.

That thing is taken care of, right? In the base? Good. I really don't have time for this. Why did Arbiter Leery have to dump this on me? Is he trying to hold me back? I just do not understand.

Don't worry about what that guy said. Of course they're going to claim it was about revenge or something. You know, since you've been such a help to me, I'll see what they stole. If it's worth anything and it's not vital that it's kept quiet, I'll give you a copy. That'll be good closure. Sel it, burn it, whatever, do what you want. I realy don't care. I'll pull some strings.

Stop Freakshow attack

Hey, Dread Tomax? Do you remember what that Galaxy Archon said, about a computer attack? Well, I've been doing some checking, and here's the funny thing, nothing like that's happened recently. And I mean, nothing. Believe me, I know people who know people. I am the one people want to know who want to know people, and I cannot find anything on this. Something wierd is going...

Hold on. That's my communicator. Let me get this.

Vargas speaking.

Uh-huh

The Freakshow?

But, sir, I'll need time to get troops and...

Yeah, Dread Tomax's right her.

All right. And thank you, sir.

You're not going to believe this, but that was Arbiter Leery. Arbiter Leery! And he wants me to take care of something. The Freakshow are attacking one of our bases. I've been assigned to handle it. Are you willing to handle another job? But, ah, watch out on this one. Apparently the Freaks have brought bombs with them. You'll need to handle this within 90 minutes or they might go off.

Okay, the Freaks in there all need to be dealt with, but this time you have to wory about the base, too. They've brought bombs, and are goign to wire the place to blow. Like I said, you'll have maybe 90 minutes on this one. This is really an opportunity for you to shine, and I am glad you have the vision to grab it. I just wish Leery didn't keep dumping this on me. What is going on? It's like he's trying to wreck my career. That's it! He knows I'm going to make Arbiter. He thinks I'm gunning for his job. Well, I'll show him. Isn't that right, Dread Tomax?

Most of the Arachnos personel who used to work here are either evacuated or dead by now. It's probably just you and the Freakshow.

Objective: After you defeated the Freak's leader, you made him talk.

You guys started it!

After you defeated the Freak's leader, it didn't take much to make him talk:

'This wouldn't have had to happen f your fascist Arachnos employers hadn't sent you guys against us. You crased our power grid! You hacked our meat doctors' medical computer! You cut our pirated cable TV! And you stole the formula for our drug, Excelsior! Oh, this ain't over! Just wait until Dreck hears about this! We'll roll over those Arachnos jerks like a wave of steel! And anyone who stands with them, including you!'

Mission Complete: You defeated the Freaks and disarmed the bombs.

He said what? That they were retaliating against us? There wasn't any plans against the Freakshow. Nothing has been alocated, nothing had been authorized. It wasn't on any org charts or flowcharts or the meetings of any minutes. It's all coming out of nowhere. or is it? I got a sneaking suspiscion that this is connected to that Council attack.

Those Freakshow, I just don't get those guys. Singing and dancing while setting bombs? Aren't they taking this seriously? Who did this guy think he was, the music man? I swear, anything goes with those guys.

Help discover the source of the computer attacks

I just got word that I'm about to have another of these futile retaliation control missions dumpe don me by Arbiter Leery, and I am getting sick of it. Dread Tomax, it is time to radically alter the paradigm under which we've been working. So far, I've been getting these strange jobs and you've been handling them for me. The second part of that, that's been great. You've been a real pro. no complaints there. No, what we need to shift into a new success-space is te first part. Before I get another one of these little fires to put out, I want to find out who's been throwing matches around. Both the Council and the Freaks said that they were retaliating for Arachnos actions that, as fas as I've been able to find, were never uthorized. Computer crimes that they were able to trace back to us, and no one should be able to trace our hackers back to us. I'm starting to thnk that someone's setting Arachnos up to take the blame for their own actions. This means we have a renegade or an inflitrator. I want to find out who's beendoing this, and I want you in on this project. I think I know how to leverage him out into the open, but I'm going to need your help. Otherwise, we're going to be cleaning up these messes for the rest of our careers.

Like I said, I have a plan. I heard from a guy I know in the Sky Raiders that there's a Longbow agent with, shall we say, a very open concept of acceptable business opportunities. Word is that this guy has just secured information on the Freaks and the Council. The same info that got them both riled up. Meaning, he's got access to whoever is behind all of this mess. The problem is that I don't know who this rogue guy is, only that he exists. The one who knows is that guy I know in the Raiders. So what you're going to do is find that Raider I was talking about, and get the information out of him. His name's Bruce Braun. I'll tell you where he is, and leave the rest to you.

Yeah, Bruce is a good guy. I hate to have to do this to him. Or really, to have to have you do this to him. But hey, that's business.

The Sky Raiders have made quite a base for themselves here. You have to wonder how long it will last before someone lik eyou tears it apart.

Objective: It wasn't pleasant, but you made Cpt. Braun talk.

Captain Braun talks

It took some work, but you were able to get a name out of Captain Braun: 'Agent Glenn Sampson'. It should be all you need.

Mission Complete: You got the information you needed from Captain Braun.

Agent Glenn Sampson? Huh. I'll put my people on it. This is how you put yourself on a success-oriented track! It's all about goals. I've always understood that. You just can't let yourself get bogged down by things like old friendships. There, I said it right there. Old friendships. Old means yesterday, and yesterday isn't the place you can stay if you want to succeed. And you and I, we're gonna succeed. the next step is going to be this Agent Sampson. He won't know what hit him.

Poor Bruce, though. Well, that's the price of doing business, I guess. Hey, and now that hot wife of his might need some comforting in her time of need, if you know what I mean.

Catch Agent Sampson

I did some digging. Turns out that this Agent Sampson gets around. Right now, my sources place him meeting with the Scrapyarders, selling them information about Council operations that matches what was stolen from the Council in that first attack. I gotta admit, he's a real go-getter. A self-starter. I admire his initiative, but what I really want is to learn is who is he getting this information from. We find that out, we find out who's been conducting these attacks and pinning it on Arachnos. And that gets you paid and me promoted. The first step is to catch Agent Glenn Smapson.

Once you've caught this agent Sampson, fin dout where and how he gets his information. That should tell us if we have a traitor or a spy inside Arachnos.

These old mines were abandoned several years ago. That would make them perfect places for the Scrapyarders to hold meetings.

Objective: Sampson was smart and talked before you had to get nasty.

Agent Sampson tells all

Agent Sampson was smart enought to talk without any extra persuasion:

'Whoah, there! No need to get all nasty. I'll talk! I'll sing, I'll dance, whatever you want. I heard that we had a deep-cover guy inside Arachnos who was suposed to be infiltrating other groups computer networks and pinning it on Arachnos. That was, Longbow gets the information and Arachnos takes the heat. I knew that there were people who'd pay for a share of that information, so I found a way to get it. The agent is leaving his information at specific drop points according to a schedule. I just made sure I was on the recover team, and made copies. I'll tell you where to go to intercept the next drop. If you're lucky, you can make it there before Longbow.'

Mission Complete: You caught Agent Sampson and found the location of the Longbow spy's next information drop.

Man, look at this stuff! Secret files on al of the big-wigs. Oh, this guy is so going down. And when he does, my stock is going right to the top! That'll show Leery! He can't sandbag me! I'm meant for success!

Catch Agent Caspian, the Longbow spy

Alright, I've taken the info you got from the drop points, and pinpointed Longbow's spy. He's called Agent Caspian, and he's holed up in one of our own bases. I went over Arbiter Leery's head, and went to Arbiter Daos. e gave me permission to catch Caspian. But there's a catch: I can't let anyone know about it. I mean, I asked about you, and Daos said you were okay. So I guess we're both lucky there. But no on else. So, that mean that you're gonna have to go into the base where Caspian is in a, ah, 'hostile' manner.

Great! I knew I could count on you. Now, like I said, Caspian's fixed himself into one of our bases. We can't let anyone know we've had an infiltrator inside Arachnos, so we can't tell them he's there. I can't even tell them that you're coming. And I'm sorry about that, but my hands are tied. So, they're going to be hostile. On the upside though, you only have to take out Caspian, and Arbiter Daos says that any damage you do won't be held against you. Those guys in that base with Caspian? Real underachievers. Daos figures you can teach them a lesson.

Great job with Caspian. We've got him in an extended debreifing session right now. I want to get everything I can out of him before I have to hand him over to the big boys. I think there's one last thing to do, and I don't want to wrap this up until I've had a chance to make sure it's done. Crossed my 'T's, dotted my i's, and ran it by legal, as it was.

Take out the underwater Longbow base

You are not going to believe what we got out of Caspian! Turns out he has a tranponder hidden in the base he was located in, and after some intense, ah, 'negotiations', he told us how to use it. We found his base. That's right, the base he was reporting to. it's underwater, off teh coast. How Mako didn't notice it I don't know, but if we could take out the underwater Longbow base, that would be a major coup. What a way to seal the deal! But this isn't going to be like buying out an old lady's store or something. You're probably going to need to get a whole gang togetehr for this, if you haven't already. Just tell me when you're ready. I can sit on this a while.

Talk about leverage! I'll make Arbiter off this for sure, Oh, leery'll be burning! He deserves it! Okay, let's not get too excited. This place is sure to be fortified, and there's a lot to do. First off, get a whole gang together if you haven't already. You're going to need them.

I've got a mini-sub waiting for you near Ft. Cerberus on Mercy Island, and we were able to get the codes out of Caspian. Once you're inside, you'll need to find a way to open their computer network. I'd suggest catching one of their computer techs and forcing him to do it. You'll also need to defeat the chief of security, and take out the base commander.

Oh, and the security chief? He's supposed to be a really tough guy. A vigilante called LeoKnight.

The codes they forced out of Caspian worked perfectly. You're in.

Objective: You have defeated LeoKnight!

Objective: You have captured the base commander!

LeoKnight [Elite Boss] This massive Tanker is the older brother of Longbow Agent Caspian. The same Caspian you captured for Vargas. He's angry, he's tough, and beating the villain who caught his little brother is his top priority.

Mission Complete: You have captured the Longbow base!

YES! How do you like that! This would have been the capstone of some careers, but it's only the first stepping stone in mine! I did it! I deserve this! It's all mine!

I mean, all ours, Dread Tomax. Don't think I'd ever forget you. You're like a partner to me; no, like a co-owner on this. Don't think for a minute that I will not put your name right next to mine, no, above mine whenever this whole incident comes up, particularly in the upper echelons of Arachnos. And that's because I value you. I will never forget that without all of your help, none of this would have been possible. And I always remember those who helped me.