Worse Than the Disease 2 IC

[Shoot Da Moon]

Judging by how Stone phrases it, Sean thinks that the withdrawal is not a regular thing. It is probably a response to recent events.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Another slow day down, the exiles turn in and try to dream of better things.

(OC: everyone records the meals eaten, of course.)

DAY 66

The morning after their slumber is peaceful and clear.

[Volthawk]

Thinking over what Stone had told them, Richard gets in touch with his contacts across the settlements again, asking if any of them have contacts or ties to the south - people who might be in the path of the raiders' withdrawal and who might be willing to pass on information if they do see anything of them, or who might need the exiles' help if the raiders' resupplying and regrouping comes at the expense of the locals. While the confirmation that they're having an effect is nice, and fewer raiders operating here was always nice, Richard was still concerned about the longer term situation.

Once he's done talking, he gets back to interrogating Stone, this time staying focused on the matter of the northern base and anything Stone has on it - he was resistant on the topic previously, but Richard really needed to know what they might be heading into if they tried to take the base on.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Richard's contacts do know a few scattered settlements to the south, even across the Vermont state border. They pass in the message to be on guard against the raiders coming their way. They've already heard reports of highway banditry, so it seems the information is good.

His 8 hours of interrogation hits a breakthrough today.
Stone confesses to some juicy intel.
He draws a basic map of the mining operation and factory.





According to Stone, there is only a base for the raiders stationed there and their prisoners, other than the factory and mine. The base has living quarters, an amory, mess hall, and other standard areas. The factory is for manufacturing gear and supplies for the raiders region-wide, and the mines are for getting raw metal materials with slave labor. The mine and factory has about 40-90 slaves at any one time, a staff of 100 guards, 20 technicians, 10 officers, and a total 40 of miscellaneous base staff serving them all. The tank mostly guards the factory. The tank is kept in its own separate garage for most of the work day and is scrambled if there is an alarm or substantial corralling of slaves. The tank is not camouflaged. 10 men accompany the tank, the rest of the guards patrol the sites (factory, mine, base) on rotating shifts. The tank has a machine gun, the guards have automatic rifles or shotguns with slugs, a few snipers in high places, body armor, barricades on checkpoints, and searchlights. The sites have metal security doors, checkpoints for pat-downs, holding cells and a big pen for slaves, murder holes, watchtowers, barred windows, stone cover, barrels filled with sand or water, and barricades. The buildings are pretty big, much bigger than any found in the rest of Vermont. The base has four buildings worth of areas, where the raiders sleep and eat when not at work. The entire collection of sites is almost a city in of itself. The outer perimeter is 25 yards from the buildings, but a checkpoint has been set up at the entrance. Woodlands is 20 to 30 yards from the outer perimeter, but the terrain is also rocky and fairly mountainous. The sites have barbed wire fences, flare guns for signaling, alarms, some surveillance cameras, sweeping searchlights and locks.

[u-b]

Sean adds a few more question for tomorrow's interrogation:
2.14 Judging from the map and accompanying comment, the buildings are just 50 yards from the trees. Does it mean they pretend to be hidden or just are not afraid of anyone coming that close?
2.15 How do they secure the woods? Like, traps, secret snipers camouflaged on the trees, patrols, other stuff? If patrols, how far do they go and how often?
2.16 What is the composition of the perimeter? Solid concrete wall? Low wall of sandbags? Wire fence? Or some other design?
2.17 How many searchlights? Any backup strategy in case those are disabled? Like flare guns maybe or night vision gear?
2.18 How many stories high is the tallest building?
2.19 How Stone expects the base would react to something like artillery fire?
2.20 Where exactly is the tank's garage? What is the garage built of? Does it have anything like windows facing the perimeter?

Spoiler

Show

I thinks the pics elude us. I'll put them here as URLs:
1. https://ibb.co/gTkJMdh
2. https://ibb.co/3NG0HRX

Ready for tomorrow.

[Shoot Da Moon]

With that progress made, the exiles turn in as the sun goes down.
(OC: note number of meals eaten.)

DAY 67

The next day is pleasantly temperate. Stone is still defiant, despite the cracks in his resistance.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean and Richard get more out of Stone.

Stone says most "rabbits" never close to the buildings or the trees - they have men watching the roads a mile away from the place, with strict checkpoints and orders to shoot to kill if they encounter anyone not a part of the army.

The woods are secured by regular patrols, who keep an eye on the local roads up to a mile away. They switch up teams on a weekly shift.

The perimeter is mostly a wire fence with barbed wire, and watched by guards in towers. They also have stone walls and metal gates on buildings and restricted areas.

Eight searchlights. All the guards have flashlights and one in five have flare-guns.

The highest building is three stories high.

Artillery fire is something they are not prepared for.

The tank's garage is half-way between the base and the factory. It's made of concrete, it is probably an Old World structure. It does not have windows.

[u-b]

Sean can think of no more questions to ask of Stone at the moment. He can think of some to ask of a random mutant guy. It seems the one we let go does not report back, so maybe we should prepare for the worse, if only because we have the time. So, Sean lays out the following proposal for tomorrow:

1. Ask radio guys (or, if they do not know, ask over the radio) if the mutant attacks seem to have stopped. If not, ask how they are localized.
2. Take one random mutant guy and ask him a few things:
2.1 What building(s) in Springfield are in use by the mutants and for what purposes? We do not necessarily disclose that one of those buildings is out, but, if more than one major building is mentioned, try to determine which one of those it was.
2.2 How many mutants are in Springfield and how they interact with other locals?
2.3 What they produce, what they trade for and whom they trade with?
2.4 Where the mutants were produced or born? How quickly did they grow up?
2.5 Are there different kinds of mutants? If so, are they different from the start or are the differences somehow acquired? What kinds of mutants can be named?
2.6 Anything known about mutants/clones attack at Killington Sky Resort?
2.7 Anything to be told about centaur type, other strange types and, especially, the one big guy?
2.8 Any way the mutants interact among themselves, especially long-distance (radio or what not)?
2.9 Anything known about the nanomachine injectors that cause mutations?

[Shoot Da Moon]

With that planning completed, the exiles can wait out the night.

DAY 68

The next day, Sean and Richard get to work.

Asking their contacts on the radio, they learn mutant attacks right now seem to come, usually, from out of entrances to The Gutter, around Newport, and around a mountainside.

The captive mutant refuses to talk. He looks afraid of the exiles.

[u-b]

Sean would like to know more about the mutants' attacks:
1.1 Total number of attacks recorded. The timing (day / night / either). The composition of the attacking forces (numbers, gear used).
1.2 Their success (both absolute and relative). Number of settlements fallen, people killed, attacks repelled, etc.
1.3 What exactly seems targeted (major / minor settlements, travelers, etc.) and any insights about sanity of those attacks or an overall plan (we might have to roll something for this).

Spoiler

Show

...and around a mountainside...

Is this Mount Mansfield we are talking about? How are Red Brick and Bread Basket positioned relative to this?

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean would like to know more about the mutants' attacks:
1.1 Total number of attacks recorded. The timing (day / night / either). The composition of the attacking forces (numbers, gear used).
1.2 Their success (both absolute and relative). Number of settlements fallen, people killed, attacks repelled, etc.
1.3 What exactly seems targeted (major / minor settlements, travelers, etc.) and any insights about sanity of those attacks or an overall plan (we might have to roll something for this).

Spoiler

Show

Is this Mount Mansfield we are talking about? How are Red Brick and Bread Basket positioned relative to this?

The mutant attacks have numbered eight so far, mostly at night. Two settlements were destroyed, three were damaged severely enough that their long term survival is in serious doubt, the rest were repelled successfully with only a handful of causalities. A total of 33 people have been killed.

The mutants have mostly targeted settlements with a strong food trade or those dealing in drugs. Travelers have ben picked off opportunistically along the roads. The usual method of attack is simply rushing the front with a wave of enemies on foot backed up by a few enemies on horseback or on motorcycles.

Spoiler

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It is Mount Mansfield, yes. Red Brick and Bread Basket are both west (give or take some north-ish) of that place. About 20 miles and 40 miles respectively, but it's not a straight route.

2. Take one random mutant guy and ask him a few things:
2.1 What building(s) in Springfield are in use by the mutants and for what purposes? We do not necessarily disclose that one of those buildings is out, but, if more than one major building is mentioned, try to determine which one of those it was.
2.2 How many mutants are in Springfield and how they interact with other locals?
2.3 What they produce, what they trade for and whom they trade with?
2.4 Where the mutants were produced or born? How quickly did they grow up?
2.5 Are there different kinds of mutants? If so, are they different from the start or are the differences somehow acquired? What kinds of mutants can be named?
2.6 Anything known about mutants/clones attack at Killington Sky Resort?
2.7 Anything to be told about centaur type, other strange types and, especially, the one big guy?
2.8 Any way the mutants interact among themselves, especially long-distance (radio or what not)?
2.9 Anything known about the nanomachine injectors that cause mutations?

The mutant captive is easily broken, giving up what he knows.
The mutants in Springfield have a dozen different buildings they've taken as safe places, they often sleep there during the day.
The mutants mostly attack and kill normal humans in Springfield that loiter near the biggest buildings because they are mostly evil drug dealers and bandits. They otherwise stay away from humans, since they are often diseased.
The mutants sometime produce this or that advanced Old World medical drug, so they can secretly trade it to humans outside Springfield for lots of food, in disguise if possible. The buyers for the Old World stuff tells them as little as possible, in return for no questions about the mutants.
The mutants are usually created out of Old World laboratories they guard in secret, highly defended, underground areas. They usually come out of the cloning labs fully grown.
There are plenty of mutants in all sorts of...sorts. The mutant can only tell you that some mutants have multiple heads, multiple legs, wings, webbed feet, weird eyes, flippers, and any number of unusual traits. He understands nothing of the cloning process itself or mutations as a medical condition.
The attack on the ski resort was done by another tribe of mutants, ones trying to secure the southern border from humans.
The centaurs are war leaders of various tribes, directing foot soldiers in attacks. When not fighting, they defer to smarter and stranger mutants. Giant mutants are sometimes seen around the southern border, but the mutant itself has never seen one. Tribes often use the giants as secret weapons against humans with explosives.
The mutants communicate with each other by information couriers making trips around Vermont every 3 months or so.
The mutant assume you mean Old World technology...and he knows little of it. Maybe a mutant running a lab is making it?

[u-b]

To ask over the radio:
1.4 Would any of the heavily damaged agrarian settlements want to relocate? We can negotiate if they are, and can start negotiating now if they have the radios. What do they need for long term survival besides protection? This offer does not extend to known drug-dealing settlements.
1.5 Would Bread Basket want to chat about the situation, either in person or by radio (we have strong encryption available, so the later should be viable as well)? Maybe they might think they need assistance, desire to post bounties or just comment on the matter...
1.6 We warn Radar Base to watch it at nights, possibly burn fires near the perimeter and have shotguns loaded with slugs.

Assuming it did not take too much time to get the info out of the mutant and we have made lots of rolls, some more questions to ask him today:
2.10 Why do they target settlements with strong food trade? Why do they trade for food? It's not like they have to eat, or have they? Why don't they grow their own instead or hunt for it or something?
2.11 Does this one mutant know the whereabouts of any such secret laboratories? Like maybe the one which he's from? If not, how comes?
2.12 What does he know about that lab, if not the location? Like, how many people were in his batch, how long time per batch, does it seem to be running at full or seriously reduced capacity (and if later, reduced by what), how exactly it's guarded and so on and so forth...
2.13 How comes the mutants avoid diseased humans in Springfield, but not afraid to use The Gutter? Is The Gutter free of disease?
2.14 Do they operate motorcycles and horses through The Gutter?
2.15 Is he aware of any specific reasons to target mountainside and Newport in particular? Any specific reason to start now and not earlier or later? Can he contact the tribe claiming command of the ops in the area? Any relation to the attacks in the south?

Then Sean thinks of one more question:
2.16 How do mutant animals come to be? Are they being fed human corpses?

Aster all of that:
3. Provide Waffle House leadership with all this information and ask if they would like to comment or chat.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The other end of the radio says to Sean that the survivors of the attacked settlements would love to join up with the exiles, they can go to the radar base and restart their farms and operations there. Food, water, and shelter is what they want most.
Bread Basket can get in contact with the exiles, they have representatives that handle matters with outsiders, the rest of the settlement seems to prefer extensive isolation. Maybe they are shy? They do not need assistance, but they would like to trade their food for other kinds of supplies.
The radar base crew roger that, and double their security.

Attacks on settlements with lots of food discourages the normal humans from sticking around, they won't risk starvation. The mutants mostly steal food to bribe normal humans for various favors or supplies. The mutant himself once got a new gun from a human this way, buying it with a month's worth of rations. Getting food other ways either takes too much time, or exposes them to danger through hunting.
The mutant knows little of the other laboratories. That's by design, they can't risk this knowledge getting out to normal humans.
The lab was being maintained by the smartest mutants he knows, of course. It was protected by the best equipped and best trained warriors. The lab had a huge steel door isolating it from everywhere else. He thinks most batches are ten mutants at a time. Each batch took a month to produce. It might be running at reduced capacity, he does not know. He is not allowed to be near the lab for very long or a lot, the mutants who are tend to be the very best of the batches.
The Gutter is VERY diseased...but the mutant tribal leaders know where you can get anti-biotics for those specific diseases. The labs can make some, and they know a few traders who sell the stuff. And the diseased humans in Springfield tend to act weird and somehow get really good at finding and killing mutants.
The mutants do not bring horses or motorcycles into The Gutter, of course. What a ridiculous question! That's way too dangerous!
The mutant is unfamiliar with the mountainside and Newport. He does not know how to contact the other tribes, that is handled by special members of his tribe. He figures those attacks might be driven by the local humans annoying them.

The mutant shrugs when Sean brings up mutant animals. He thought they might be creations of a lab, or simply the result of animals eating mutants. He thinks most mutated animals like eating people. They certainly like eating mutants unless they are tamed. And no, he does not handle animal taming in his tribe, that's someone else.

The Waffle House leadership is intrigued by the information provided. They want to know more about mutants infiltrating settlements or disguising themselves as normal people. They would like to know the identities of anyone working with mutants, including merchants trading with them.

[u-b]

Radio communications:
1.7 The survivors would be welcome at the Radar Base. There is food, shelter, and should be enough water. There will be also protection. Sean gives the survivors directions and tells the base to expect arrivals.
1.8 Sean asks if Bread Basket has means to do delivery (after all, food is bulky), if they have any problems / limitations trading directly with Gunmetal and what supplies they would like to get?

Last few of questions to ask of the mutant today:
2.17 Can he name / locate / describe any traders who he know deal with the mutants?
2.18 Can he name / locate / describe any mutants operating in disguise?
2.19 Does he know if Bread Basket is in any way infiltrated? Can he tell about any other settlements? Like, maybe, this one?

[Volthawk]

As the mutant describes the lab, Richard asks whether the mutant remembered seeing any numbers labelling the lab - a secure location sealed with a thick door made him think Shelter, so it was worth seeing if the mutant knew anything to help inform him one way or another.

The news of survivors coming to the radar base raises Richard's spirits quite a bit, and he asks the guards there to keep in touch as the situation develops and people get settled, and to let them know if any of the newcomers find that something important is missing there. It felt good to be able to provide something to people other than their combat expertise.

[Shoot Da Moon]

As the mutant describes the lab, Richard asks whether the mutant remembered seeing any numbers labelling the lab - a secure location sealed with a thick door made him think Shelter, so it was worth seeing if the mutant knew anything to help inform him one way or another.

The news of survivors coming to the radar base raises Richard's spirits quite a bit, and he asks the guards there to keep in touch as the situation develops and people get settled, and to let them know if any of the newcomers find that something important is missing there. It felt good to be able to provide something to people other than their combat expertise.

The mutant remembers lots of numbers, but he can't say which ones. It was usually a string of numbers and letters with the occasional dash breaking them up.

Radio communications:
1.7 The survivors would be welcome at the Radar Base. There is food, shelter, and should be enough water. There will be also protection. Sean gives the survivors directions and tells the base to expect arrivals.
1.8 Sean asks if Bread Basket has means to do delivery (after all, food is bulky), if they have any problems / limitations trading directly with Gunmetal and what supplies they would like to get?

Last few of questions to ask of the mutant today:
2.17 Can he name / locate / describe any traders who he know deal with the mutants?
2.18 Can he name / locate / describe any mutants operating in disguise?
2.19 Does he know if Bread Basket is in any way infiltrated? Can he tell about any other settlements? Like, maybe, this one?

The messages go through over the radio.
The merchants of Bread Basket prefer to trade in person rather than risk a delivery. They can deliver, but they typically only do so for truckloads with armed escorts. Their trade with Gunmetal is mostly limited by The Elders' lack of trust and Bread Basket's policy of "shyness". Bread Basket would like medical supplies, guns, ammo, melee weapons, gadgets, fuel and tools.

The mutant can not talk about traders who deal with mutants, as that was not his job. It was special information, trusted to better mutants than him.
Likewise, the mutant was never authorized to get involved with espionage in any way.
The mutant is certain Bread Basket is safe from mutants, their security and isolation is too tight. As for other settlements, the mutants guesses there's infiltrators in Red Brick. But not this one.

[u-b]

Sean has no more questions for the mutant and is inclined to call it a day.

Spoiler

Show

Skipping until the next morning, I guess.

[Shoot Da Moon]

(OC: mark off the meals for the day.)

The exiles leave their captive to his cell and rest for the rest of the day.

The night is peaceful, even with the wolves howling.

DAY 69

The exiles wake up and have their breakfast. A few hours later, as they do their morning chores and check the perimeter, a call comes over the radio. It is addressed to the exiles, and it is from a man identifying himself as a former captain of a raider gang. He wants to cut a deal.

The man says his name is Blackwire.

[u-b]

Sean is not against making a deal with Blackwire as long as it is understood the man will not be trusted anytime soon. He wants to hear what exactly is being proposed.

Spoiler

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OC: mark off the meals for the day.

Done.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Blackwire wants the exiles to help him defect to their side, including safe housing at the radar base. Do that and they’ll get his full co-operation, including his gang fighting for them.

Soon after Blackwire ends his communication, the exiles receive another message. This one is from The Rangers. They demand the exiles do not accept Blackwire's deal, but instead capture him and deliver the raider boss to them. Do this, and The Rangers will allow the exiles to join the militia as full soldiers, with all the privileges of rank that entails.

And still after that, the exiles get a message from Red Brick. It turns out the gang leaders of the city have an alternative offer to Blackwire's as well. The Commission of Red Brick want him tortured and executed instead. Do this, and the exiles will be recognized as a fully established members of any major gang in good standing of Red Brick they wish to join, any boss with a chair on The Commission will welcome them as made men.

[u-b]

Sean takes some time to discuss the proposals with the companions. Nobody else should be present and Bart is to make sure of that. He states that the options seem to be like following:
1. Accept Blackwire on his terms.
2. Accept Blackwire on different terms.
3. Hand him here.
4. Hand him there.
5. Do nothing.
6. ???

Sean does not like option 1 as proposed (he said he is not going to trust the man; housing him at the base should be out of question, even if Waffle House people would choose not to object). Sean also does not want to share the man's reputation, for past and future actions of himself and his gang.

Sean is not sure if option 2 is possible, and if it is possible, what should be the terms. Off the top of his head, Sean can think of only two uses for Blackwire at the moment. One is to put him at the power plant (this will need agreement of power plant people, will not offer solid protection against those going after Blackwire's head and is not guaranteed to be a good plan for all the other reasons, but this is a plan). The other is to hire Blackwire to defend people against the mutant attacks while housing him somewhere (this will offer the man even less protection and Sean is not sure how he could compensate for that, but seems otherwise as foolproof as it gets; might even get him reputation enough for a pardon or something).

Sean does not totally like option 3 as that would mean acquiring a reputation of a traitorous guy. Also this would discourage subsequent defections of other slaver gangs, which Sean sees as a minus. The opportunity to be "full soldier", while it might seem attractive, probably comes with orders and duties, so would severely limit our choices (we are now an independent force and might cease to be such).

Sean does not like option 4, for mostly the same reasons.

Option 5 would mean we pass on all the opportunities, moderately annoy at least two parties and let Blackwire harvest the supplies however he can, so even in that regard is far from ideal, but at least it is an option.

Sean welcomes any thoughts or proposals related to the matter.

Spoiler

Show

Did the messages from Rangers and Red Brick come encrypted? The Rangers do totally have the ability, so might have as well used it. Not so sure about Red Brick - they could have done it too, if they really wanted to, but maybe they chose not to care.

[Volthawk]

Richard's...conflicted about the offer. On the one hand, it really appealed to some parts of his beliefs - the idea that this could end in some kind of peace, that the raiders on the ground could be open to negotiation, hell, just that at least one potential fight can be ended before it begins was a nice thought. However. Richard, being the one who'd spent the most time reading through the intel and talking to their prisoners, was also well aware of the nature of their enemy. They were the ones with proper intelligence networks, the ones with spies and scouts everywhere who'd managed to infiltrate many of the other factions of the region. He wouldn't put it past them to attempt a trick like this, presenting a false defector they could use a double agent and who'd betray the exiles at the worst time - could they really trust the gang to not change sides again at an unknown time in the future, or to use their access to the radar base to pave the way for a successful retaking of the facility, to attack the exiles' support structures like they'd been doing themselves? Richard just wasn't sure. He's also concerned about the gang's future behaviour - the raiders hadn't needed to follow any kind of moral structure or code of behaviour before now, and Richard wouldn't stand for them fighting in the exile's name and acting in the same way. Could they trust the gang to act properly, and not ruin part of what they're building here by bringing disrupute to the exiles' cause?

As far as the offers from their allies goes, Richard instantly dismisses the prospect of taking Red Brick's bargain - he was willing to deal with them to an extent, to ensure the exiles had access to what they needed and to work together against the raiders, but this was a step too far. He wasn't handing a man off to be tortured. No way. Ignoring both Blackwire and their allies didn't seem like much of an option either. The Rangers and their offer, however, gets more consideration from Richard. They were much more like the proper forces of law and order of the old world which he looked up to, and it seemed like they had some kind of sense of justice to them. Blackwire had definitely done enough wrong in his time among the raiders, given the rank he'd reached, that imprisonment would be justified, but he definitely saw what Sean was talking about when it came to their independence (although he reckoned that, given their record so far, it wouldn't be too hard to convince the raiders that they were best left to act as they were now), and the point about their reputation and the prospect of future defections definitely gets him thinking.

After some thought, a potential route comes to mind - a bit of a mixture of their options, albeit with some caveats and necessitating some negotiation. Was there some way of having Blackwire's gang nearby to the radar base, and able to benefit from it's protection and resources, but not fully brought into the fold - a camp within the fence, perhaps? A way to mitigate the potential damage the gang could do if they turned against them but still give them what they need. If they figured that out, then they could potentially negotiate a middle-ground option with the Rangers - Blackwire would stay with the exiles, but a condition of their agreement with the gang would be that they would have to also cooperate with the Rangers and answer any questions they might have. Not quite what anyone wanted in full, but a way that the most people got a little of what they wanted. It was a rough idea at this point, but Richard thought it had potential.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Spoiler

Show

Did the messages from Rangers and Red Brick come encrypted? The Rangers do totally have the ability, so might have as well used it. Not so sure about Red Brick - they could have done it too, if they really wanted to, but maybe they chose not to care.

(OC: Yes, both messages were encrypted.)

[GnomesofZurich2]

Tariq, after his long recovery from the sniper's bullet, weighs in. The thought of dealing with a defected, possibly treacherous Blackwire is not appealing, nor is Red Brick's offer. I think either we propose different terms to the Rangers (some reward other than becoming full militia members and compromising our independence), or just pass on the offers.

[u-b]

Having collected the input, Sean enters the following message for Vermont Rangers:
1. We will make a deal with Blackwire. We have people under attack by the mutants and want to have Blackwire at those mutants as the first task, a probation of sorts.
2. We provide them with another gang leader instead. Namely, with Rex Stone. And with what is left of his gang.
3. We invite them to send a team to have a chat with Blackwire and his men to extract information.
4. We ask them to defer imposing any punishment on Blackwire for as long as he works on our side. Whether he gets an amnesty or exile after the war would depend on his performance and contribution to ending it.
5. We have not yet made this proposal to Blackwire and the terms are not final. We ask The Rangers if the terms as proposed would be acceptable, maybe with some corrections. We don't insist on being joined in as full soldiers under these terms, we would be satisfied enough with maintaining friendly and productive relations.
6. We are ready to take an encrypted voice call to discuss it further.

If he has no objections form neither Richard nor Tariq, he sends this message to Vermont Rangers over an encrypted channel. If they chime in, Richard is to explain our reasoning.

[Shoot Da Moon]

When they respond with an encrypted message, The Rangers do not seem very pleased with Sean's proposal. They do accept the idea of getting Stone delivered to their clutches, they hate the idea of Blackwire escaping their punishment. Blackwire was directly responsible for several battles that killed Rangers. They do not trust Blackwire to give good intel or make a deal in good faith. As far as they are concerned, killing Blackwire or capturing him for their jail NOW is worth two in the bush, or whatever. They reject the terms, they can still treat the exiles as friendlies, but not full members. They restate their previous terms as their best offer.

[GnomesofZurich2]

They do trust Blackwire to give good intel or make a deal in good faith.

Is that supposed to be, "They do NOT trust Blackwire..."?

[u-b]

Well, that went as good as it might have been be expected, which is not very good. Sean is not rushing to make an offer to Blackwire, a honest one or otherwise. He asks Richard to get more info. From docs and from Stone himself on these topics:
1. How long ago has Blackwire defected? Assuming it was before we got Stone (this is important), but Sean would like the details.
2. What Blackwire and his gang did before and after the defection? Did he control a territory? If so, which one?
3. What seems to be the reason for defection? Too little pay? Too little hope? Too much work and/or risk? Personal issues maybe? Anything else?
4. What was done about it by his former bosses and why it does not seem to have worked?
5. What was the man's reputation with his superiors and peers? Competence? Reliability? Was he known to be lying?
6. How long ago and under what circumstances he was recruited? His track-record in general and compared to peers?
7. Other Blackwire-related topics that Richard might invent or come across.
8. And, while he is at it, we might try to get some tangentially related info on Blackwire's peers, his bosses, and Mailer. Anything that can be easily had. Like Mailer's/Shelter's part in this whole business, for one.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Is that supposed to be, "They do NOT trust Blackwire..."?

(OC: Yes. Fixed.)

Well, that went as good as it might have been be expected, which is not very good. Sean is not rushing to make an offer to Blackwire, a honest one or otherwise. He asks Richard to get more info. From docs and from Stone himself on these topics:
1. How long ago has Blackwire defected? Assuming it was before we got Stone (this is important), but Sean would like the details.
2. What Blackwire and his gang did before and after the defection? Did he control a territory? If so, which one?
3. What seems to be the reason for defection? Too little pay? Too little hope? Too much work and/or risk? Personal issues maybe? Anything else?
4. What was done about it by his former bosses and why it does not seem to have worked?
5. What was the man's reputation with his superiors and peers? Competence? Reliability? Was he known to be lying?
6. How long ago and under what circumstances he was recruited? His track-record in general and compared to peers?
7. Other Blackwire-related topics that Richard might invent or come across.
8. And, while he is at it, we might try to get some tangentially related info on Blackwire's peers, his bosses, and Mailer. Anything that can be easily had. Like Mailer's/Shelter's part in this whole business, for one.

Neither the documents nor Stone know anything of Blackwire dropping his flag. It must be a recent development. Stone has never interacted with Blackwire, he just knows OF him, as a gang boss in charge of assassinations and pitched battles against militia.

Stone has never heard of Mailer or the former Shelter of the exiles. He has never set foot in a Shelter, but he thinks the commanders above him are from Shelter 77.

[u-b]

It must be a recent development. ... a gang boss in charge of assassinations ...

Well, those are important news, in Sean's opinion, and might suggest the intent. So, do we get this guy, and, if so, how?