Mission #4 (EH)

Initial Voicemail | E-mail | Solution |
Excerpt from FA Kumba | Excerpt from CEO RebCrush

Initial Voicemail:

Official #1: *taps microphone* Are you sure this line is safe?
Official #2: Perfectly.
#1: Good. Do you know who I am?
#2: Not exactly…
#1: I am General Torren, Director of Special Operations. Has Admiral Khirov contacted you yet?
#2: Yes, he's briefed me regarding the mission.
#1: Never say anything about a mission on a non-NIF channel. You call it by its codename, "Red Winter."
#2: Understood, sir. What role am I to play in it?
#1: Let me explain something to you son. Red Winter is not a game. There are no "roles." Red Winter is a series of covert operations designed to strike at the heart of the Emperor's Hammer, knock down its crown of glory and self satisfaction. They won't know what hit them.
[note - the bolded text is what can be decoded into the answer to this mission]
#2: I see. So why exactly was I chosen for this mis- I mean, for Red Winter?
#1: You're an inquisitive kid. One day you'll learn that the best policy is "Shoot first, ask questions later." I've written up a document describing Operation Red Winter in full detail. You'll see what you have to do. I'm not a fool, kid, I'm not going to tell you where it is over this line. You have to do your research. Use your datapad, start searching for stuff about Red Winter. I'll know when you've found it, and I'll contact you then.
#2: But sir- *static*
Transmission Ends.

This is the transcript of the actual voicemail located at http://hawkeye.jedijawa.net/27452E/mission4.mp3

Official #1 is played by Kweeky, Official #2 by R2b0t

E-mail:

CPT Needa,

As you already know, EH MedLab is currently analysing the samples that your work has provided them with. However, we have another task for you. You should be now have received a voicemail that was intercepted recently by IntOrg. This voicemail is what we believe to be two high-ranking NIF Officials discussing a new and possibly fatal threat to the Emperor's Hammer. Discovering what "Red Winter" could be is your next mission, and is one vital for the survival of our organisation.

You have been selected for this mission due to your capable handling of your last missions, and your access to Hawkeye technologies. Take precaution as necessary. This mission is vital to the continued prosperity of the Emperor's Hammer! As soon as you know what "Red Winter" is, then you must send a Hawkeye Transmission directly to IntOrg (security@intorg.ehintel.org). I cannot stress the importance of this mission enough. You must succeed.

{Salute}
EH Intel Internal Organizations Security

Solution:

Agents had to research what "Red Winter" was using the Hawkeye Datapad Search Engine. The correct answer was that Red Winter is a plan by NIF to clone a member of the EH CS or high command, have the clone perpetrate crimes in the original's name, and sabotage the EH as a whole.

Excerpts:


From FA Kumba:

Red Winter appears to be a Multi-pronged convert operation designed to attack and destroy the EH from multiple points.

The first of these points is via Clonging technology, of both organic and inorganic forms. Inorganically, It appears the NIF have devised a way to replicate the raw ores needed for starship construction. Thus, only a small amount of raw material would be needed to construct a fleet more massive than anything imaginable, most likely in a far less time and cost than to construct the ships and support vessels normally.

On the Organic front, Red Winter's cloning technology appears to be aimed at replacing members of the EH with NIF-Loyal versions; Most noteably, the EH Command Staff. An NIF Covert agent will apparently be assigned to each CS member, most likely in the form of a n Assistant or Command Attache to watch their actions and obtain genetic code of the CS Member in any form. This code will most likely be used to clone that CS Member.

The third front of Red Winter involves a mass assassination plot using an unknown, and highly toxic chemical that originates from the bright red berries of a small, flat leafed shrub. This shrub is only found in a five-acre wooded area on a mostly uninhabited planet of the Pirath System. This chemical poison has been extracted, and highly purified by NIF Scientists, and apparently, looks exactly like the chemical equivalent of sugar. However, there exists one protein which currently is unknown, which is the actual poison.

Also, the Snowflake script seen on a very Popular EH Website, EHNET.ORG, appears to be a Virus planted by the NIF. This is further supported by the snowflakes causing random total utilization of a holopad's main processor, and overheating it till it melts down.

--Kumba


From CEO RebCrush:

Sir, I believe I have told you before that I came accross documents refering to the 'Red Winter'. Basically, it seems to be a massive scheme to bring down the EH. It seems to be composed of several parts. The first one involves minor sabatage, that seems irrevelant, but may be of bother. Example is the snowflake script on ehnet.org, as the following transmission proves:

Project Red Winter, simply put, is our concerted effort to sabotage any and all ranks of the Emperor's Hammer to which we can gain access. As of this transmission, consider Red Winter commenced. Your duty in this regard is to smash the order they crave to the ground.
Down communications lines, sabotage fighters, hack into servers, bug simulator-battles, call others up on false charges--the possibilities in this regard are endless. What is important is that we make sure the Hammer experiences the worst run of bad luck they've had in a very, very long time. We will be working simultaneously. Let us test their strength, from within.

Second involves creating huge amounts of vessels and clones, because they have apparently discovered new technologies:

Our scientists have been working with cloning technology, and it was only by sheer luck--the result of a lab accident--that they discovered the possibility of cloning not only living tissues, but replicating inorganic matter as well. This fortunate discovery was quickly developed and now will serve as the basis for our strike against the Hammer.
In secret, we have replicated the raw materials needed for a vessel, processed and refined them, and constructed, at our main base, a fully-functional capital ship where before we began with only a small scrap of ore. This vessel, the ISD Red Winter, is only the beginning. For next to nothing, our new technology will allow us to create a fleet that would take the Hammer millions of credits and thousands of worlds' supplies of materials and manpower to produce. With this replication, our success, our eventual victory, is certain, for the EH simply cannot match what we are prepared to throw against it.

But, probably their most dangerous effort is the following. They wish to take over the EH from the inside:

Cloning technology is the key, and the reason that we needed our agents to be EH members.
We wish to destroy the EH from within, by replacing the entire command staff with exact genetic copies. We will assign each of you to one member of the CS, whose genetic material you must obtain. When the clones are made, we will then call upon you to wield the assassin's blades, and in the end, the NIF will control all of the resources of the Fleet. A battle-less, though not bloodless, revolution--a Red Winter for the Hammer.

And backed up by the following excerpt:
Observe those with whom you serve, the private thoughts hidden in their minds but not kept from their faces, their actions. Think of the "wild cards" you know, those who have never seemed entirely content with the Hammer. Search the records of the Inquisition...those who have broken rules once find it quite easy to do so again. The words you have already been given will help you unlock the records you need.
When you are certain of your comrades...bring them to us. Reveal not who we are, nor your own identity...merely make sure that a record or two "happens" to be intercepted by the right person at the right time, or "wing it" with any appropriate situation that comes to mind. We will help you with the rest, but the first step must come from you. We want names, callsigns, id lines, as you gather them to you.

And the following:
The NIF had headquarters on this world several months ago, and it was the testing ground for a number of experiments. An unfortunate member of the team discovered the plant's deadly nature when, stranded for several days, he tried to consume the berries. The tiny, seemingly-inoffensive fruit of the shrub was quickly given the name "Red Winter". It brings death quickly, painlessly, and undetectably.
Our scientists have isolated and purified the compound that Red Winter contains. The substance is unknown to the Hammer and every other Imperial faction; it looks like sugar and has much the same chemical structure, except for one unknown protein that turns the white powder from sweetener to poison. A small sack of the compound will soon be en route to every NIF agent, to be received in a matter of days.
For weeks, the agents have been observing the Hammer's command staff, the pilots, all who surround them. They will now use their skills to decide, quite literally, who lives and who dies. Those remaining must be weak, docile, without the tempers or the will to resist us.


Furthermore, I intercepted the following transmission:

It is difficult to believe, but even in the ranks of spies, there can be treachery and sabotage. We have recently been informed that, within those we have placed in the Emperor's Hammer, there are traitors. Those who report their findings dutifully back to us--and then leak information to EH Intel when they think our eyes are closed. In doing so, they put not only our plan and our lives in danger, but the lives of our agents as well.
If you are reading this, then well-done--you are one of the few who has remained loyal. We have our suspicions about the others, but their identities are unknown. This is where you come in.
You must become a spy of your fellow spies. Their names will be forthcoming. It is much that is asked of you, yes, but you are already installed in a position to find out what is going on. Observe their actions, speak discreetly with their fellow officers, try to intercept their transmissions if you can. As you discover their identities, report back to us immediately. If you must give this "mission" a name, think of it as the red winter, the cold of the storm closing in on them when they least expect to be discovered.
Those who betray us will be shown no mercy, and you will stand at our side as they fall.

I suggest that you try to protect any of the double-agents at all costs, they can provide us with essential information, and they're worthless when they're dead.

Obviously this is a massive operation, and we need to act quickly if we want to stop them. Be on your guard, assign everyone you can on this, and don't trust anyone.

Agent Reb Crush




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