From: timk@tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Tim Kuehn)
Subject: UN Patrol: "Blind Man's Bluff and Thundering Hooves"
Organization: TDK Consulting Services
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 04:13:02 GMT

And the cast of players grows yet again.... TDK

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In the Ocule bunker,  Carl interfaced with his systems. In the control 
room, a voice spoke from overhead speakers:

	"Engaging systems now." 

Instantly status indicators on the monitoring consoles flashed to life
as Carl re-integrated himself into his wide array of monitoring systems.

	"Please give me the last known co-ordinates where the 
	subject vehicle was located," requested Carl.

	"Downloading now," replied a tech.

	"Hmmm..." mused Carl.

			=== * * * ===

The silence of Shield's bunker was broken when the displays 
suddenly dissolved into undecipherable static.

	"Blast it all to hell and back, there they go again!" exclaimed
	Sargent Calder.

	"One more outburst like that and I will have you removed 
	from this room," retorted Commander Sharon Eccles with a 
	voice that could crack a glacier.

Sargent Calder made an impression of a ramrod.

	"Sir," said Calder, "with this weird effect that the subject 
	is producing it's almost impossible to effectively maintain 
	our watch. Sir!"

Commander Eccles's response softened a little. 

	"Understood, soldier. But if you let it get the better of
	you, you may miss a chance to intercept an enemy attack. 
	And static or no, if that happens, then hell itself will be
	a walk in the park compared to what I'll do to you, or anyone 
	else that screws up even that much. Do I make myself clear?"

	"Yes, sir!" replied Calder.

	"Good, now get back to your post and pay attention to what 
	you're doing," said Eccles.

	"Yes, sir!" said Calder.

Commander Eccles turned to Sargent Pryde.

	"Report!"

	"Subject activity appears to be jamming our main Matrix 
	monitoring systems," said Pryde. "No apparent cause, or 
	rememdy known, sir."

	"Try increasing the range away from the subject."

	"Yes, commander," replied Sargent Pryde. "Sargent Calder, please
	alter monitoring parameters as follows."

Commander Eccles leaned back in the command chair as her soldiers went to 
work. Calder could be a bit emotional when faced with situations that kept 
him from fulfilling his job, but he was also a genius at interpreting the 
blur of data that came from Matrix attacks and countering assaults within 
the Matrix. Pryde was better at the normal monitoring process, the long, 
tedious hours of watching for that smallest change in a seemingly 
insignificant parameter that could precursor an all-out assault.

Eccles looked over the rest of the bunker. The other techs had obviously 
heard her reprimand Calder, and they would be on eggshells for a while
until they felt the most recent storm had passed. In order to make her
presence felt a little more, Eccles got out of her chair and walked the 
length of the bunker, speaking to the watch officers and other personnell
that made up Shield Group in order to settle things down a little.

	"Commander Eccles to the watch monitors," spoke an overhead 
	monitor.

With a stern smile, Sharon told a soldier to resume their watch, 
then made her way back to the watch monitors.

	"Commander Eccles, we have a partial monitor of the 
	subject," reported Sargent Pryde. 

Commander Eccles looked the displays over. In place of the steady blur of
snow there was now what looked like a stop-action picture displaying 
parameters around the area in question. 

	"Since we cannot monitor the area in question directly," began 
	Sargent Pryde, "we are spreading our net a bit wider and monitoring 
	the data streams going in and leaving the area. From that data we 
	are attempting to reconstruct the activity within subject area. The 
	line structure coding indicates the degree of confidence in the 
	reconstruction. A dotted or partially filled background indicates 
	a low degree of confidence. A solid-filled background indicates a 
	high degree of confidence."

Commander Eccles considered the display briefly.

	"Good work soldier. Now work on getting me a more 'solid' 
	picture."

	"Yes, sir!" replied Pryde.

She didn't say that the degree of confidence the reconstruction had was only 
barely above what they had before. But it was something of an improvement 
over the static-filled picture they'd had to contend with before.

If there was one thing Commander Eccles hated, it was flying blind in a 
high-tension, high-risk situation. Escpecially when there was a high 
probability they would come under a massive attack in the next few hours.
As Eccles sat down on her command chair, the weight of her responsibilities 
settled on her like an oppressive blanket. But she had every confidence 
that her troops would find a way through that damnable static, and her team
would protect her charges from anything that could be thrown their way.

Waiting. It was the devil's worst torture, but she had to endure it for 
now. And she knew that time would come soon when everybody in Shield Group 
would wish for this blissful, deadly boredom.

			=== * * * ===

	"All stations secure?" asked Colonel Heinrick von Wilhelm.

	"All stations secure, sir," replied the duty officer.

	"Troop status?"

	"Troops a full combat readyness now, sir." 

	"Systems status?"

	"All system loaded and verified. Backup defense, program and 
	autonomic weaponry all show primed and ready, sir."

	"Matrix connection status?"

	"All nodes showing green."

Colonel Wilhelm briefly paused to take in the majesty of it all in. The 
attack was formidable by anyone's standards. State of the art software 
and hardware run by the most ruthless, expert Matrix mercenaries money 
could buy, all welded into a Matrix fighting force the likes of which 
he had never seen before. Their objective for today was to destroy all 
or disable transmission nodes connecting to what was supposed to be a 
very hush-hush governmental system. He knew that the assault wasn't going 
to be easy, particularly when the defenses his scouts had reported earlier 
were more than a little formidable. 

Yes, it would be quite the battle. Colonel Wilhelm looked around at 
the assembled troops, all waiting for his next command. The power -- to 
have so many lives in the palm of your hand, who would live and die at 
your command. He closed his eyes and let the feeling of his power wash 
over him like a computer-induced high. And to pit his genius and power 
against the best the world had to offer in the ultimate contest was 
his grandest dream come true.

The time had come, and the historic moment had arrived. When next he 
spoke, it was like a diner savoring a succulent dinner morsel.

	"Launch the attack."

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The (still-growing) cast of characers:

HQ: 					
---
Commander:					Triumverate

OCULE GROUP: 
------------
Matrix-Commando Operative: 			Carl "The Munchkin" Rudke
Commander:					(Un-named)
Remote Monitoring Officers:			Sharon Leacock, Argenton

Neural/Cybernetic Psychological Monitor:	Dr. Marlin Sachs
		
Chief, Photo-Interpretation:			Lieutenant Rich Harris
       Photo-Interpretation:			Nelms, Crofts, Francis 

SHIELD GROUP: 	
-------------
Commander:					Commander Sharon Eccles

Watch Officers: 				Sargent Henry Calder
						Sargent Paul Pryde

Combat Squadrons:				Orange, Blue, Green 


UNITED NATIONS:
---------------
UNIS-CICHQ (United Nations Internal Security-CinC)
HQ, Chief of Ops, Security: Brigadier-General Brian Haessler

***************************************************************************
****			   Those Who Oppose				***
***************************************************************************

WHITE ARROW: 
------------
Tiger Team 
	Grey Thunder:	1: Christopher Brilson (Leader)
			2: Mi Phong (Communications)

	Blue Fang:  	1: Paula Christie (one)
			2: Mark McKinley  (two)

	Red Ocean:	1: Sean Vandemark

	Black Tiger:	1: Vladimir Nerovski	(Squad Leader and Mage)
			2: Shirley Wu
			3: Peter Winonovitch
			4: Harvey Paulson

MATRIX MERCS:
-------------
Attack Commander:	Colonel Wilhelm von Heinrick



The above are are all mine. Touch them without my permission and you die. :-) 
At the very least do not use any of them without running it by me first for 
comment. 

Copyright 1992, Timothy D. Kuehn, All Rights Reserved.
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