Prep for Mid East Job

Ilyara contacted the guild about possible other mercenary groups who would be able to help us with Chase’s job. Given the amount of enemy combatants we’d be facing we’d decided more boots on the ground would be a good thing. It was possible there would be a group who would be able to help us who also had their own ship we could use as a forward base. Any ship we used would need to be armoured as the Mujahideen operate in the water around the area so we could be fighting in the water as well as on land. We’d also need something that could transport the cargo container as we’d been warned it was likely to be heavy.
 
The guild did have a group that could likely help us and they’d be happy to make the introductions. They have a converted nimitz class carrier which was heavily armoured with modern shield generators and plating and could have the fight. Would take a few days to get things set up and then about a week to get there.
 
The guild also sent a comms to Max. They had to use unofficial channels, they could give us access to an off-the-books weapon. It came with a caveat; We would need Zs permission to use it and he would need to know the target before we were allowed to use it. Weapons would be bio-locked and only released once the targets had been approved. These were highly destructive explosives, using dark matter technology. He can ship three to us today, total cost £60k. Max agreed to the terms. It was better that we have them here in case we needed them at short notice.
 
I connected to a comms tower as a relay to connect to the Mid East Nexus to see what I could find out. I started with local news and media. The Mujahideen are very active in the area, in open conflict with the UAEC, they are openly opposed to the doctrine of the UAEC who are more co-operative, open to trade. The Mujahideen do not like the corporate nature or the current leadership. There have been lots of attacks, bombings but also viral weaponry. They have bases throughout the desert, hidden in caverns and caves and have been there for centuries. The conflict is currently somewhat at a standstill but this could change at any minute.
 
I tried to search for any historical plans, any generic copy-paste plans for bunkers from the older days of the mujahideen but couldn’t find anything,
 
As I was searching Cayenne from the Black Hawk Mercenary group arrived. The guild had reached out to them as a possible to work with us on this. Ilyara and Max got her up to speed on where we were up to and introduced us all.
 
They were discussing the inns and outs of the job, possible strategies. I had suggesting spoofing orders to move the cargo container as this was going to be the most difficult part of the job, getting in there and getting it out without damaging it. Unfortunately that would only work if they wanted to sell whatever it was, which we didn’t think they would as, if they wanted to sell it there would have likely been chatter about it already. Cayenne had already heard rumours about the job and knew what it was that was in the container. A UAEC satellite uplink. Worth upwards of 6 million as it was already pre-programmed and linked into their systems so whoever wanted it was more likely after the data than the money.
 
Cayenne advised that Black Hawk could get us in, but wouldn’t be able to cover the exfiltration, or the exfiltration but then wouldn’t be able to help us to get in. They could help with one or the other not both. She also suggested if we could get in and get someone to drive the flatbed we could then just drive it out and hook it up to the manticore and use that to get it out. In order to do that we’d also need to take out the turrets.
 
Taking the electronics out remotely was unlikely to work as the base was likely to have a shield generator or ECM. One of the options, if we could get someone who was stealthy enough, was to get someone to sneak in past the sensor webs and plant a remote terminal, we may then be able to use that to hack in remotely and bring everything down.
 
Another option that was suggested was to get a mole unit and burrow in but to do that we’d need to use ground penetrating radar and Chase had already warned us that this wasn’t an option as we’d be picked up if we used the radar. We could use the mole without but it would be much slower.
 
We also added a repeater drone to the list of equipment we’d need for this job.
 
While I was connected to the Mid East Nexus Cayenne suggested I look at the local weather patters as we’d need to know what the weather was likely to be when we were planning on going in.
Mid east have sone ‘ripper storms’ which could be useful; Temporal storms are normally south east.
Glass storms are the most prevalent, tend to be tornados and super heated plasma making desert a giant blender which could be very dangerous for vehicles; we’d need thick armour or bunkers.
Evenings flash freeze or even snow. Currently in summer so now would be the best time. However, around the times we are looking at going adverse weather would be ramping up and prevalent. Flash storms are a thing so would be an issue. Does sort of follow a pattern but weather is sporadic so difficult to predict. Most settlements have shield generators to try and protect from the worst of the weather. Out to sea can also be quite dangerous. Although the ship is shielded we will need to be careful when we take off and land as valkyrie could be shredded. We’d need to make sure we watch the radars closely. The manticore would be better but would need to land in a storm.
 
Something we hadn’t considered was seeing if we could get some local support. Cayenne advised that it was likely we could get some support from the UAEC, they may even pay us for helping them deal with the Mjuahideen element.
 
I tried to get some information on the leadership of the Mujahideen but they were such a secretive organisation that there was little I could find, from what I could see that was a fairly universal problem and others had also struggled to get this information. At least, if anyone did have it it was well hidden. The leadership of the UAEC was, however, much easier to find. They had various commanders in the area. They also had a fortified position in Dubai. The diamond, a smaller settlement, a silvery lotus shaped structure that reflected a lot of light, I also suspected light wasn’t the only thing it reflected. It was a heavily fortified position. I managed to get some contact information for the UAEC, the MO or Military Operations department, they worked with mercenaries on a regular basis as well as the ERF and the Lost, it looked like they would be pretty open to working with us. From what I could see they would be able to help us with technology and would provide a liaison as long as we were willing to work within their guidelines. If we contact them then they can arrange a date and time to contact us securely as will need to be connected to their nexus. The UAEC is a centre for tech, lots of R&D, on the cutting edge of technology, billions of pounds spent there every day.
 
I looked at the technology of the Mujahideen, wondering if I could find out what they used and see if I could pre-programme things specifically for the job to see if it would help with the hacking. From what I could see it was all grade 5 or exotic military technology. They also had projectile tanks, plasma and energy projectile weapons. Shielding and advanced ECM and other countermeasures. Military grade encryption. I will need the PCNC for this.
 
I tried looking for some general information on the Mujahideen, I didn’t want to come away from this with nothing. It was limited information but I was able to discover that they were Muslim and followed the traditional tenants of the Muslim faith. Old school fundamentalists. There were lots of the old religious sites around the area, but we would need to be careful with this as lot of others who were more modern Muslims who would be unhappy if they were targeted or damaged. I also found out that there were Amaranthian ruins in the area as well. One of the ways the Mujahideen had moved forward was that they were much less sexist now. They were happy for women to come and fight in their ranks, there were reports of women being front line fighters and possibly higher up in the ranks. A lot of the Mujahideen are not just local muslims but are converts as well. People from many different countries, from what I could see there were people of all nationalities, the only nationality not to join are Russians. Most nationalities open to converting and they have been welcomed in.
 
Max gets the most recent copy of Quran. The Imam’s are the trend setters and the ones who interpret the Quran. The local Imam’s appear to be preaching peace and openness. They are inviting others to have conversation with them to discuss their beliefs but that religion isn’t pushed. It’s there if you want it as opposed to the CNG. Don’t have open ties to Amaranthians – but also no denigration either. They accept Lost in their settlements as well so there are Amaranthians. Looking on social media I see pictures of a grey skinned half-Orc with sandscrit tattoo’s. Tall and lean, leaner than you’d expect an Orc to be, possibly more human than Orc. Name associated is Grogus Mohammed.
 
Times for prayers are as they were historically; mid day, in the evening and early morning. They pray in the direction of Mecca which is West. The suggestion is to approach from the eastern seaboard.
 
I have a look for any social media posts from people who may be dissident, open to turning or bribery but I can’t find anything. The only ones are the UAEC, the Mujahideen are all of the same mindset. If we can find someone who has connections, might be able to find someone on the inside who we can use as an insider but would be difficult.
 
While we were looking at contacting the UAEC we also floated the idea of doing a reccy-run. We could fly over, meet the right people, get the lie of the land. I’d be in the right place to be able to poke around the Mid East Nexus without needing comm-tower time. It was something worth considering. Although the more money we spent on the job the more we were eating into the payout, some things were worth more than money. If we could pull this off we’d have made a lot more contacts, international contacts. We’d also be building up Broadcastles reputation as a group who could take on big jobs and get things done.
 
I had a look at the nearest friendly bases to where the mission was. There was a USAC base to the south in Al Hayma, There was also a civilian settlement in Hayma itself. UAEC did have a base but that was in Al Ghubar. The base we were after was somewhere in the middle but pushed out towards the coast. The area the base was reported to be in was called Raqui. Looking at topographical images going back to before the binding some large sand dunes and small mountains had shown up. Based on Chase’s images the base was in a valley but there was a raised area in the floor of the valley. That was our target. There were the ruins on top of the mound and, zooming in on chases images, there were some heavy fortifications that had been added.
 
I tried to see if I could find anything on the ruined settlement but all I could get was that it had been a trading post and watering hole. Nothing about the layout or what could have been underneath it. There was reference to a small military base a few miles west but that was pre-binding and I couldn’t find anything on the maps. There was mention of a tunnel which could be useful but there was no guarantee it was still there, or if it was, if it was connected to the base we were after.