Ops Files.

Mission 3: 2002 August 10.

A few days after the previous mission, the team is gathered to infiltrate and investigate secret weapons research lab with ties to the Lodge.

Mission Briefing.

Mike from Intel gives the briefing. 25 miles east of Yorktown Heights, New York is a compound belonging to Brainworks Corporation is a privately owned applied research company. Three members of the board of directors are in the Lodge, and Intel belives it is a front for Lodge weapons research. There is some legitimate research being conducted on site -- computer hardware and software, chemical and materials research. Most of the personnel probably do not know the truth.

The Company has almost no intel on this site. The team is to collect whatever information it can, specifically from building 410 which appears to be the main lab for the secret research.

Non-detection is paramount. There will be no cleanup, and there is no backup. Under no circumstances is the Lodge to be made aware of the Company's existance. Choose equipment loadouts with this in mind. If you are spotted, flee rather than fight. Kill only as a last resort to prevent capture.

The compound is located off of Route 22 on a private road near a reservoir. There is a water landing strip and dock adjoining the compound. Brainworks has had some trouble in the past with animal rights and environmental activists, although to our knowledge there are no laboratory animals on-site.

Your team has two nights to reconnoiter and infiltrate Brainworks. Today is Friday, and you must return to HQ by Sunday morning. Get your equipment and deploy this morning. A Company helicopter will take you to Hawthorne regional airport.

Mission Parameters.

Sponsoring department: Intelligence. Operatives: Derek Amus (Psi), Mike Jones (Combat), Hank Olson (Intel).

Debriefing.

Friday, 12:00. The team selects a modest loadout for the mission, given the unlikelihood of confrontation and need to maintain a cover should any member be caught. No equipment unavailable at TL7, and no heavy weapons or body armor save for easily concealed Kevlar vests. Hank suggests taking along some fake anti-vivisection and other animal rights type posters and paraphenalia to "accidentally" leave behind in case of discovery.

17:00. The team deploys from New York, arriving at Hawthorne airport via Company helicopter. They rent a Ford Taurus and rooms at the Marriot. As evening approaches, they head up the Taconic Parkway, head East on Route 22, and find the private drive leading to Brainworks. Mike continues driving past the driveway for about a half-mile, and pulls off into the woods out of sight of the highway.

21:00. Mike hikes to an observation point on a nearby hill overlooking the compound, as Derek and Hank head closer, shadowing the drive. The compound is surrounded by a chainlink fence topped by barbed wire, and the forest is cleared 50 yards from the fence. The entire perimeter is lit by IR floodlights, and there are cameras with equal coverage. Guards are posted at the main gate, and at the back gate.

21:30. Hank and Derek discover a drainage pipe leading out of the compound near the reservoir. Closer to the reservoir, they get a look at the dock, which has an shed with an electric cart parked nearby, and a surveillance camera, altough no IR spotlight. They complete their cicuit around the compound and return to the drainage pipe.

22:50. They are unsuccessful in trying to remove the grate from the drainage pipe , and radio Mike to return to the car to fetch the tire iron and join them at the compound. Mike arrives in half an hour, and quickly has the cover off. The pipe is narrow, but not too narrow for their largest member -- Mike, the a combat op.

23:30. The team decides a little reconnoitering inside the compound is in order, but that a full search of building 410 will have to wait until Saturday night. Scouting out the compound now will hopefully allow a much speedier entry tomorrow night, leaving more time to conduct their search and information retrieval. Hank enters the drainage pipe, while Mike and Derek stay behind in radio contact.

23:45. Hank is in the compound. The secutiry patrol makes a circuit of the compound and heads to the reservoir every half hour, leaving him about 10 minutes presently to move about before having to worry about security. There are however lights on in some offices, as well as the occasional security camera -- although it seems the camera coverage inside the compound is not nearly as pervasive as around its exterior perimeter.

Hank quickly makes it to building 410. The team decides it might be a good idea to find out who some of the people still working late are, and perhaps pay someone a visit later to obtain an ID badge and keys, so Hank notes license plate numbers of the few cars he passes on the way. He gets four in all. As he's noting the fourth -- belonging to a Mercedes parked in front of 410 -- he hears voices and sees the front doors swing open. With no time to run and nowhere to hide in the well-lit and shrubless area in front of 410, he simply dives to his stomach alongside the short stairwell leading a few steps down into the building. He overhears two men talking.

An older-sounding, unnamed man, clearly in charge, is talking to a researcher named Jack. Jack is working on "virus resistance numbers" and "biological resist inputs" and the older man wants to see a report by Sunday.

The older man turns and heads up the stairs, to the sidewalk, and to his car. Now that his back towards Hank now, Hank quietly leapfrogs over the short rail and into the stairwell, just in time to catch the door before it closes. Jack is not in the lobby, thankfully. Hank avoids the cameras, hears Jack in the men's room, and locates an office belonging to "J. Jones." It's locked, but he easily picks the lock and is inside. He snaps some photos of the paperwork on the desk, takes some screenshots, and installs a key reading device on Mr. Jones's computer.

Hank discovers "J." does indeed stand for "Jack" as Jack returns a bit sooner than expected to his office. The door is still locked from the outside, however, and Jack's keys are sitting on his desk. Hank exits Jack's office as Jack returns to the foyer to call security to unlock his office for him. On his way out, Hank locates what team is probably after -- a hallway leading to a stairwell which is not marked on either the fire escape building map or on the (admittedly sketchy) maps the Company supplied the team with.

The team has a short, heated debate as to whether Derek and Mike should join Hank, seeing as he's come this far already, potentially forcing Jack to show them around the place (and giving him the Cocktail afterwards), or if they should leave, steal a security pass from an employee identified via DMV records tonight, and return Saturday night as planned. They opt to return, leaving more time to search tomorrow when there are possibly fewer employess around.

Saturday, 00:10. Hank exfiltrates the compound and the team returns to Hawthorne.