Razor's Edge

Roleplay Library
1

Liberty City, FPS

The two agents of the Federal Security Service had stepped off the Eastern Airlines flight from Kelssek and immediately caught a taxi to the government agency the FPS government had told them to liase with. A breifcase was present and contained some very important information. They were careful to ensure nobody followed them. Sure enough, nobody did.

They arrived about half an hour later, tipping the driver and sending him off. They were met in the lobby and escorted into a meeting room on the 6th floor, where as requested, the projector was ready. After a few minutes to set up, they were ready.

“Ok everyone”, he said, looking at the somewhat glum looking collection of people. They were all dressed extremely conservatively, grey and black was the order of the day. Fair enough.

“My name is Tom Wiltshire, this is my counterpart, Anton Yushkevich, we’re both from the Federal Securty Service, Counter-Intelligence cell.”

He brought up the opening slide.

“Excuse me for slowly arriving at my point and the purpose of this meet, but there’s some historical background you’ll need first. In 1991, when the Soviet Union broke up, the KGB was broken up amongst the republics. The CFSSR was no exception, as the fledgling nation of Coocoostan received all KGB assets within our 1991 borders. We established a successor agency, the FSS and retained about 2,000 people, all of them agents. This meant about 5 times that many, including all KGB soldiers were out of work. They were far from pleased with the situation and formed an intelligence organization parallel to the FSS, commonly called the Cheka. The name, is a take off on the saying ‘One Step Forward, two Steps Back’. If you go forward one from the KGB, you get us. If you go two back, you get the NKVD, then the Cheka, the initial Soviet secret-police. The purpose of the Cheka is currently twofold. One, is to secure financial resources, to finance their operations as well as line everyone’s pockets. They do this by funnelling government funds, blackmail and the theft and sale of top-secret information. For example, we HAD a stealth-fighter program until they stole the plans and sold them to Dinarastan. We went in and got them back, but lost 5 people in the process.”

He paused for a few seconds.

“The second purpose, is the protection of their interpretation of the national interest. Simply put, they do what we are about to do, only with a much more liberal application of force. They’re very slick, very well trained and seem to never approach any potential members who would betray them.”

Another pause.

“Now, the reason we’re here, is our only source within the Cheka, from their Foreign Operations Directorate, told us recently that the Cheka have a lone agent operating here, in the FPS.We believe that information is 99.5% accurate. All he could tell us is, that she is a junior officer in the FPS navy. Now, my counterpart will tell you about the theory of how she got here and what she’s doing.”

The other man walked up.

“Again, I’m Anton Yushkevich. We beleive, that if the operational protocol from the Cheka has been followed, which it usually is, here’s what they likely did. She is almost certainly not from Coocoostan originally, or the FPS. She’s probably been here several times, to scout and probably lived here and worked under a different identity than right now. The paper trail to cover her is certainly solid. References, service history. She may not have served all the time that’s listed on her record, but it would be impossible to tell the difference, as they’ve likely been careful to avoid anyone who in theory, should have known her from before. She is definitely proficient in Systema the Spetznaz martial art, as well as with firearms and explosives. These Cheka agents go so deep into cover that they honestly live their identities. She has no family ties maintained, no life to go back to. Should she fail and be allowed to continue working, she would have another identity created. As to what she could be doing, we aren’t sure. Aside from any questions you have, we have one. What possible motive could the Cheka have for being here?”

2

The first person to speak was the only one in the room not wearing a dark business suit…of course, his FPS Navy uniform wasn’t all that much brighter. From his insignia, he appeared to be a luitenant. “The nuclear program?” He asked, tentatively, glancing around the room.

Across the table, an older man spoke up, the ID card attached to the front of his suit identifying him as a representative of the Nuclear Defense Force. “Not plausible. Even if the officer did make the cut from the regular navy to the NDF, there’s no way they could steal a nuclear device. Especially not one of the naval branch’s warheads…those things are the size of a person, and the security around them is all but inpenetrable.”

“Maybe if they just wanted the uranium? Or a certain part?” Someone sitting only a couple seats down from the projector volunteered, whose ID identified him as a representative of the FPIA.

A momenary silence ensued, as everyone seemed to mull this over. Finally, the NDF man spoke up again, looking at the Coocoostanis. “Would they have any interest in such parts or equiptment? Or even a nuke in general?”

3

"Well,I’m certain they would.But our own nation used to have a nuclear program, the remnants of which aren’t entirely accounted for. It makes little sense to come here. Yushkevich said. “There are so many exposed security flaws within our country that the Cheka rarely travels like this,which is why we’re concerned.”

Wiltshire stepped forward. “As much as this is about neighbours helping each other out, that’s not the reason we’re here. We want this spy alive. We haven’t caught a Cheka agent alive for almost ten years now. Then we only had him for two days and were just about to break him when he hung himself with a sheet.”

“Still,we, namely you, have to take the lead on this, because this is your juridstiction. We’re the experts on the Cheka, so we’ll be here for the duration in all likelihood…”

The door sprang open and a man in the brown uniform of the CM’s land command walked in. Wiltshire cringed at the sight of his capbage, intelligence.

“Sorry I’m late, but you guys forgot to tell me what flight we were taking. I’m Colonel Sam Marsh, CM.”

4

“Welcome, Colonel.” The FPIA agent spoke up again, nodding to the man. The rest of the room seemed too busy looking through files. After several moments, the FPIA Agent nodded (seemingly to himself), before sitting forward. “Any other ideas?”

“For a single man?” The naval officer asked, perplexed. “Not that I can think of.”

“Maybe a ship?” Someone down the table suggested.

“Yes, Conroy. I’m sure that’s what it is.” The NDF representative replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm." They’re planning for that one woman to defeat an aircraft carrier crew of several thousand and then somehow sneak the ship back to Coocoostan, and into a Coocoostani port, without being noticed."

“Ya never know.” The man muttered.

“Gentlemen, do we have any real suggestions?” The FPIA agent asked. No on responded. The agent nodded. “Alright.” He looked to the Coocoostanis. “It’s going to take each of us a few hours, if not the rest of the day, to put this information through the correct bureaucratic channels. So, unless anyone has an objection,” he glanced across the room, “why don’t we agree to convene here tomorrow, with some more information, and authorization from our bosses to launch an investigation.”

OOC: Meh, partially an attempt to show how bureaucratic FPS is, and partially just taking an opportunity to thin my character base (only five of the current ten or twelve will be coming back tomorrow, and they’ll be the counter-intelligence team, and my main chars in this thread).

5

National Intelligence Agency

“Now this looks interesting. FSS agents, transited in Kirkenes on the way to Liberty City. Something we should know about?”

“FPS have been busy lately, haven’t they?”, remarked the analyst, “Talks with Infinite Loop, military hardware on the table. Now they’re talking to Coocoostan… now who paid for that trip?”

“FPIA, from the looks of things. They didn’t see fit to tell us.”

“You never go direct like that.” Mimicking a slightly bored customer service agent, he mimed picking up a phone and saying, “‘Oh hi, we’re flying some FSS agents through your patch tomorrow’.” He put down the imaginary phone. “They know we’d find out anyway if they’re flying Coocoostani agents through Kelssek. This is their way of keeping us in the loop. But they don’t tell us what it’s about… and that’s our job. I’ll talk to the spooks in Liberty City and see what comes out.”

6

Coocoostani Waters, 10km east of Aubrey
Aboard M.V. Casablanca

“Now remember, these guys are ruthless, so we should get along just fine.” The Cheka agent known only as “Bear” spoke up.

“Are you sure we can trust these guys?” A more junior agent, who went by Razor, questioned him.

“Of course not, they’re drug traffickers. Still, the mounties shouldn’t care, it’s not illegal where they’re from. At least they make it seem that way.”

A strong roar of the inboard diesels of an approaching craft broke the silence.

“Where are they?”

“Wait,” said Bear. “They throw on the running lights when they’re within 5 cables.”

The Go-fast the smugglers were using was jet black, and they’d mounted their twin 50 caliber once they’d left the protection of Kelssek’s waters. They were far more policed and a guy with no lights was a far smaller problem than a guy with no lights and a 50 cal mounted. The two men pulled up alongside as Razor and Horace, his counterpart, pulled them alongside.

“Comment ca-va?” The man driving asked.

“Bien et toi?” Bear apparently spoke French of the Parisian variety, so it worked.

“Euh, comme-si comme-sa. Nous avons les drouges hein.” The other man let them know they hadn’t forgotten the drugs.

“…et J’ai ton monnaie.”

Within 15 minutes, the 25 kilos of cocaine had been loaded and they’d driven back for Kelssek, taking the 50 cal off and leaving the running lights on, as the Coocoostan National Police wouldn’t take exception that way.

Razor was on his first time and confused. “So who’re they?”

“Bikers I think. From a francophone gang in Lescure called the Hell Machine or something. Before you ask, we aren’t keeping this dope, it’s going south.” Bear filled his junior in.

“How far south?”

“Ever been to Lazlowia?”

“Why do they need it?” Razor was confused.

“We’re giving it to some dirty spies, who’ll give us all the intel we could ever want that they have. They’re kinda backward, but still, never hurts to know. Plus we can test their resources.”

It didn’t make much sense, but the Casablanca turned south and headed for the tiny island of Lazlowia, hoping to score it big.

Liberty City, FPS

“All I’m saying is I don’t want a holy war between the Federal Security Service and the Coocoostan Military.” Colonel Marsh was still upset about the attempt to snub him.

“Well likewise Colonel, but its just that the CM needn’t have their fingers in this pie.” Tom Wiltshire didn’t give an inch.

“We still don’t know enough about whats going on to make that call Tom.”

“That’s not true. This is Cheka and we deal with them, not you. Hagans signed off on that.”

“Well, President Hagans is now on the dinner circuit, so I suggest you hold that thought. Besides, it’s not like you’ve done anything to stop them. It’s almost as if you want a purpose for your budget.”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE!” Anton had been quiet until this point.

They had just approached a bored looking secretary, who was somewhat startled by their argument. A shaky “Can I help you?” was all that she mustered.

“Yes, we’re looking for the FPIA focus group. We’re from the FSS.”

OOC:

Yet another thread revival.

CLEAR

7

Lazlowian Navy Base No.143
Kolbász, Lazlowia

Captain Ozorai never liked the LTSZ. Those agents always used his ship for some purpose, and they never told him what was that purpose. Of course, that is secret. But he can’t do anything about that.

And those agents are here again. This time the LTSZ sent three agents. Agent Czetz met Ozorai in his office.

“-Captain Ozorai. The LTSZ has sent me and my two colleagues here for a special mission. The details are of course secret. For this mission, we need your ship and her crew.”-said Czetz.

“-Certainly. When and where do you need my ship?”-asked Ozorai. He knew, that these agents always use his ship during the night, so he was only interested in the date and the place.

“-Off the coast near Cape Calavite.”-said another agent, a half-egyptian half-hungarian man called Ali Bayan.-“We don’t know when will they get here. Probably in the next two days. Just be on the alert.”

8

“Kelssekian drugs turning up in Lazlowia. Find out why. Here’s the dossier.”

Jeremy looked hesitantly at the file. It was always difficult when there wasn’t an embassy, but at least it was near to a major one - in Krechenstadt. It was a good base. Off to the airport.

9

The secretary nodded hesitantly, typing into her computer for a moment before looking back at the men. “Um, I’ll, uh, need to see some, uh, ID, sirs.”

After each of the men had confirmed their identity, the secretary again typed several things into her computer, before picking up the phone at her desk and dialing an extension. “Uhm, Special Agent Mesens, there’s a group of Coocoostanis waiting here to see you.” A moment later, she nodded, and put down the phone. “Just a moment, please.” She stated, having regained her composure.

Surely enough, about five seconds later, the FPIA agent from the day before strode into the lobby of the 3rd floor of the Joint Service Operations Center in Liberty City. Making his way over to the group, he smiled, and offered his hand. “Gentlemen, welcome back. I’m afraid I didn’t have the opportunity to introduce myself properly yesterday; I’m Special Agent Chris Mesens, with the Free Pacific Intelligence Agency. I’ll be leading the Joint Task Force that has been assigned to this project.”

10

HQ of the LTSZ
Lazlowgrad, Lazlowia

General Katona was meeting in his office with agent Leiningen Eva, known as X3.
Eva is a member of the special “X-section”, which contains the best agents of the LTSZ.

“-X3, how much do you know about Cheka?”-General Katona asked.

“-The soviet Cheka?”

“-No, the one in Coocoostan.”

“-A kind of illegal secret service, which employs ex-KGB agents.”

“-Correct. Now, recently we have made contact with them. They want some information, and in exchange we get some drugs.”

“-Why drugs?”-asked Eva.

“-Of course not for personal use. We are going to hide a small ammounts of this stuff in the homes of enemy agents, than blackmail them with this. You see, officialy we can’t produce drugs on our own. We have to buy it from abroad. But this is only a small part of our operation. Our goal is to set up a new base of operations in the Free Pacific States and to make the Cheka our new ally.”

“-How, may I ask?”

“-We will tell the Cheka agents, that the official secret service of Coocoostan is after their agent in the FPS. We will offer our help to them. It won’t make any difference, if they refuse, we will help them anyway. This will probably improve our relationship with them.”

“-Where do I come in?”

“-This is our biggest action since the civil war. So I assign you and agent X10 to look after the whole operation. X10 is already in the FPS. You will go to Kolbász, where our agents meet with the Cheka agents.” Katona gave Eva a black file with the words ‘Szigorúan Bizalmas’(For Your Eyes Only) in red letters on it.

“-All the necessary information is in that dossier. You will get your equipment from the Armoury.”

“Thank you Comrade General. I’ll start working immediately.”-Eva saluted and went out of the office.

11

MEANWHILE IN LIBERTY CITY

Agent X10, whose real name is Donovan Grant, went into the Lazlowian Consulate in the FPS. The consulate is actually also the HQ of the LTSZ in this region. Grant showed his Special Consular Pass to the porter and went immediatly down to the basement. In the conference room the head of Station F(which is responsible for the FPS and the neighbouring countries), Simunich Antal, waited him.

“-X10, we’ve got some news. First, General Katona has choosen your partner. Heres her file.”-Simunich gave Grant the file of Leiningen Eva.-“The operation is going according to the plan. Theres only one problem. Agents from Kelssek are investigating after the drugs. We must do something.”

“-Well, we can capture them, and after we know what they know, we can kill them.”-said Grant.

ON AN AIRPLANE FLYING TOWARDS KOLBÁSZ

Eva was reading the file General Katona gave him, while she was flying towards Kolbász. Everything about the operation was in it. She never met Grant, despite they were actually colleauges. Grant was born in Ireland. He was a murderer and escaped from prison in 2004. The LTSZ recruited him in 2005. He now turned into one of the LTSZ’s best agent.

12

5km off Cape Calavite
Aboard M.V. Casablanca

It had taken over two weeks to make the trip, it was bad news. The Coocoostan Military(CM) was following them. First a coast guard cutter, then a patrol plane, then a destroyer, which they had lost in the closed in waters of the Grayson Islands. They’d found a shallow channel that the large ship couldn’t follow them through and the delay of four hours to catch up with them had made all the difference. Still, they were here, for likely the last time. The familiar bulk carrier closed in on the little cabin-cruiser and after the ships had tied themselves together, with the Bulker’s anchor keeping them steady, they were set. The drugs began their trip across before Bear found the LTSZ agent he dealt with, he looked half-arab, but he’d never asked. “Bad news. This is the last shipment for at least a few months, maybe more. The Navy followed us about halfway here. We’re going to need to find a new ship. Hopefully something a lot bigger. The bad news about that is that these transfers at sea are too risky, we’ll have to dock somewhere. In the meantime, don’t worry, we’ll contact you when we’re ready to move on.”

JSOC Liberty City

“Special Agent Mesens. Again, I’m Tom Wiltshire, this is Anton Yushkevich, we’re both from the Federal Security Service and with us is Colonel Sam Marsh, who’s with the Army…”

“Army Intelligence.” Marsh Cut him off.

“So, we haven’t learned anything since yesterday. Female, Navy Officer, that’s all.” Wiltshire began to speak again.

“So, do you have any ideas about how we can find her? We’re going to press our man on the inside, but he’s the only one we have and we don’t want to scare him, or out him.”

13

Czetz was listening to the coocoostanians, than he said:

"-Well, we will get through of that. Meanwhile, we got some news for you too. The secret service of your country knows about your agent in the Free Pacific States. Thay want her alive. My superiors want me and my two colleauges here to help you. How about a deal? We help you, you help us to establish our new station in Coocoostan.

14

Bear looked at Czetz “I’m not familiar with that, still, how did you find out?” Bear had learned long ago that there were many operations and operatives that weren’t any of his business, but his superiors would know about it. He did know that they’d be very concerned about it.

Bear asked again. “Come on guys. There’s no point helping you set up a station if we’ve been compromised. So where did you hear about her?”

15

“-Some days ago three coocoostanian arrived to Liberty City. They informed the local secret service about your agent and now they are after her. While we are speaking, some of our men are looking after your agent. See, you need us and we need you.”-said Czetz.

“-We can do things on our own.”-said Ali Bayan-“But things are a lot more easier when you have an ally. Don’t you agree?”

16

Jeremy looked around the dingy bar. His contact was late and he was getting a little nervous; his instincts were telling him to leave and not risk it. But The Fort, as agents called NIA headquarters, had assured him the contact was genuine.

“I’ve had the most incredible stroke of luck today, bud,” said a voice behind him.

Jeremy turned around and said, “Skill creates its own luck, friend.”

“It could be just a coincidence.”

“There is only the appearance of coincidence.”

“Well, you might want this, then” the contact said, handing Jeremy a newspaper and taking a seat next to him.

In a low voice, he said, “The drugs are definitely being bought for something other than the pleasure of some government folks. But more I don’t know. What I do know you’ll find in there.”

“Where do I find out more?” asked Jeremy.

“There’s nothing you can do right now. But you might want to see if your cousin in Coocoobad knows anything.”

Jeremy bit his lip. The Chekha involved in this somehow? What on earth was going on? If they weren’t snorting it up, what on earth did Lazlowia want the drugs for?

17

Liberty City - Joint Service Operations Center
3rd Floor Lobby
Mesens shook his head as he shook each man’s hand. “We’ve got no foolproof plan, at this point, I’m afraid. However, we do have a couple of preliminary ideas,” Chris motioned behind him, “if you’ll follow me, I’ll introduce you to the team, and we can go over them together, if you’re up to it.”

After receiving an affirmation, Mesens led the three Coocoostanis back the way he’d came. After a moment, he took a left, opening a door that led into a medium-sized conference room, which, like most conference rooms, consisted of a large oak table in the middle, a number of chairs around that table, and a small coffee stand in the small corner.

Sitting around the center table were two men (one of whom was wearing a naval uniform) and a single women, each wearing an ID badge. As the group of Coocoostanis entered, the three 'Government Employees," as their badges read, stood, nodding and smiling in greeting.

“This is the team.” Chris stated, motioning towards the group. “From right to left: Bob Mexley, from the FPS Navy’s Military Police; Joan Coesher, from the National Law Enforcement Agency; and Daniel Leskin, from the National Protection Agency.” Mesen then turned and introduced the three Coocoostanis.

After the group had gone through individual introductions and handshakes, Mesen motioned for the three Coocoostanis to sit down, before sitting himself. “Well, as I stated, we have come up with a number of ideas on how to track down the Cheka agent. Of course, not knowing her target makes things difficult; but, even so, we should be able to have some success.”

“That said…before we start throwing our ideas on the table, we were wondering if you had any?” Chris asked, looking at each of the Coocoostanis in turn. “Because, to be entirely truthful, most of our ideas lack much…shall we say, chance of success? And all of them are based on bureaucracy…which tends to be a bad too for counter-intelligence work.”

Liberty City - 4th of July Avenue
Sunbucks
After ordering his drink, the FPIA Agent sat down in a seat equidistant from the main and back entrances, with a view of both. Though he had never had any trouble getting in contact with this acquaintance of his (who happened to be a Kelssekian diplomat), never before had the diplomat contacted him about a matter not relating to FPS-Kelssekian relations…and the agent couldn’t help but be a little paranoid about the fact that the man had so suddenly.

18

“I’ll get straight to it, and you can answer it or not, if you can’t or won’t. There’ve been Coocoostan agents coming over here. Why?”

19

The FPIA Agent was caught a little by surprise. Normally, when he met with his Kelssekian friend, they discussed matters relating to Kelssekian-FPS relations or something similar to that. As such, before the meeting, he’d brushed up on the latest developments on the FPS side…which left him more then a little unprepared for this.

Taking a breath, the agent calmed himself slightly, giving the matter some thought before responding. “This will need to be kept completely secret.” He stated, glancing around the room warily. “Were it anyone but you…and you not Kelssekian…I probably would even tell you.” Leaning in, he lowered his voice. “The Coocoostanis claim an agent of the Cheka have infiltrated the FPS Navy for some…unknown reason. At least, that’s what the daily report said. Apparently, they want to help us find and expose the guy.”

20

Kieran was stunned. He’d expected some goodwill thing, some collaborative effort, maybe. Or to be told straight out it was none of his business, which would have meant other more tricky ways of finding out… but if that was really what was happening… or could the Coocoostanis be using it as an excuse to…?

Keeping his voice low, he said, “Infiltrated? At a high level?”