Editor's Note: Unlike the other stories in "Ragabash Tale" adapted from posts in our email campaign, this one appears substantially as we played it. I have eliminated most of the details of game mechanics and repetitious quotes of previous posts, but otherwise left most of the material intact. See how you like it.
Subj: [ReiM] War For New York: Background
From: Jeff
Recall in the ReiM timeline that the Grand Alliance began their campaigns against the Wyrm in Boston and Chicago, despite major skepticism from the allied parties in question. The resounding victories were a clarion call to all sides. On one hand, the evidence of the stunning effectiveness that the united Awakened could have -- and the scale of the victory that was achieved -- brought many of the doubters off the fence and into battle, swelling the Grand Alliance ranks. On the other hand, their enemies, blindsided in the first two battles, now realize with mounting panic just what they are facing and gird for battle. Just a few weeks after the close of fighting in Boston, the War for New York begins...
Home of the Tremere Five Burroughs Chantry, stronghold of the now-allied Giovanni, New York is the linchpin of Camarilla mystical, financial and temporal power. Even the Sabbat could not entirely drive the Camarilla from the city at the height of Black Hand power and just over a year ago the Sabbat were driven entire from the city. And the Sabbat never breached -- or even found -- many of the Camarilla's most important facilities. More than two hundred years have turned New York into a fortress of the Kindred. It is also a target the Camarilla must defend -- and the Grand Alliance must take.
Knowing this, the primogen of the Camarilla plot to lay a trap for the Grand Alliance. On the surface, New York's Elyisiums appear to be on the edge of virtual panic and chaos, the few survivors of Boston and Chicago, as well as Kindred fleeing the Garou nations on the warpath, flooding the city. The fear and panic is in fact real. But the primogens make sure to play up rumors of Kindred disarray -- even while beneath the surface they amass all of the strength the Camarilla can muster, armed and ready: including the highest and most feared Elders in North America. When the Grand Alliance, flush with victory and mistaking the surface chaos for weakness, moves from Boston down to makes its assault, instead of disorganized mobs and wavering leaders they will find they have walked into the steel jaws of the Camarilla -- and they will never walk out.
But in the Masters of the Technocratic Union and its Invictus leadership, the Primogens of the Camarilla have met their match in scheming. The Camarilla have fatally underestimated the degree to which the Technocractic Union's all-seeing eyes have already unveiled the Prince's plots. The leaders of the Kindred pride themselves on their command of modern sleeper technology and the advantages it gives them over the Garou and Fae -- oblivious to how badly outclassed they are by the Union, now allied to the more traditional enemies of the Kindred. The Grand Alliance not only knows of the Camarilla's schemes, it encourages them -- welcoming the opportunity to break the Camarilla's back. Only too late will the Camarilla discover it has closed it's jaws around a hand grenade...
Yet for all the Union's advantages, it is not all-knowing; and there are many schemes that lie so far hidden or confused in background noise that they escape Grand Alliance identification. All the technology and rotes in the world won't help you if you don't know what you're looking for or don't understand what you see. And there are enemies of the Alliance and the Camarilla alike that hatch their own plots to make New York the funeral pyre of them both. In short, the War for New York becomes a clash between sides that all are bringing far more firepower to the table than anyone had expected...
By the time the smoke clears, many brave Awakened of the Alliance will have made the ultimate sacrifice; and for all the misplaced confidence the War is far more brutal and terrible than anyone expected. Yet at the end of the day over the smoking chaos of America's largest city the Alliance will stand victorious and the Camarilla broken, and many legends will be born -- among them, the legend of Jessie Smiles-of-Sunshine, who will win renown like few Garou ever have. This is Jessie's story...
Subj: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Jessie
From: Jeff
-- there was a massive bright light from above --
-- there was a roll of deafening sound --
-- there was a crushing wave of pressure --
-- there was the wall, coming far too quickly --
-- there was a skull-splitting pain of impact --
Blackness.
As Jessie comes groggily to, her senses report in one by one.
Pain, first. Lots of it. Feels like she's been picked up and thrown -- hard -- against concrete. Which probably describes very accurately what happened.
But a quick check will reveal she can still wiggle her fingers, her toes -- she's got all her parts in place.
She's in Crinos -- she's crumpled up on a pile of stuff, probably debris -- she's covered in lots of it, too, but none of it feels particularly heavy. She probably could jump up and out without too much trouble.
Smells -- smells like blood, mostly -- snout hurts like hell, too -- but she can make out some strong smells. Fire. Smoke. And the unmistakeable stink of Kindred, very, very close.
Eyes open -- sight -- she can see that her face is practically buried under debris, but through a gap she can see out. Wherever she is, the place is a wreck. The only light comes from fires. The ceiling has been shattered downards into the chamber Jessie is in -- and through the hole rappel down a team of Leeches, heavily armed for battle in the best modern sleeper weapons and armor money can buy.
The lead Kindred has already detached himself from his zip line. He is standing over a Crinos form Garou just a two meters in front of where Jesse lies buried. The Garou is partially pinned by a block of concrete, and is unconcious, oblivious to the Kindred commando over him. The Kindred lowers the barrel of his AR-15 assault rifle right down to the back of the fallen Garou's head, execution style, and prepares to pull the trigger...
Subj: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Sammy
From: Jeff
(Combined with version partly adapted by Kylinn in a later post)
The Union had committed its very best to the climactic struggle for New York. And among the very best was Sammy.
The HITMark SM17XR43, ("Sammy" to the humans who worked with "him"), was among the most advanced killing machines ever built. He had the most advanced AI system ItX had yet devised and a wealth of experimental systems that gave him capabilities in combat, regeneration, stealth and repair few other HITMarks possessed. And all of those were Sammy's line-mates.
Unlike previous generations of HitMarks, Sammy wasn't solely an ItX creation, although trusted ItX artificers had been heavily involved in the project. Sammy had been "born" in a Void Engineer cybernetics laboratory, designed to meet the extreme challenges of the off-world environments on which the VE stood frontier guard, and yet be able to interact with nonmodified humans and their tools as easily as a basic cyborg. Designed in an effort to build robotic warriors to fight by the side of the dauntless Space Marines, Sammy contained everything ItX and the VE alike could build into him. Including the first fruits of the VE's very, very quiet contacts with the Eldraeic Imperium...
Sammy and his three line-mates were prototypes of what the future of the Union's armies could be. But today, now, Sammy, rushed from the Horizon down to Earth, was in the very thick of a battle that would decide if the Union - and humanity - had a future at all...
.....
Sammy had run the 48.5 meters down the utility tunnel in no time at all. But now he faced two obstacles: one in front of him and one not in his mind...
Sammy stood in a bare concrete utility tunnel, pipes and conduits on all sides. There were once flourescent lights, but they now only fitfully sparked. In front of Sammy was a pair of thick blast doors with an access control datapad to their left --but the datapad was dark and powerless, and the doors themselves had been warped outwards, like an elevator door hit by a battering ram from the inside. Through the small gap between the now no-longer level doors, Sammy could see the thermal glow of fire, the unmistakable vapor emissions of smoke, the sounds of fighting and dying...
His internal diagnostics had completed 1.34 seconds after the massive systems shock that had automatically triggered them. Any lesser HITMark would be only so much random twitching parts, but Sammy's designers had, in their spare-no-expense philosophy, built protection against cantrips and rotes of every kind into his very neural lace and steel bones. Anything that made it through the protection of the Primium layering Sammy's outside still had multiple layers of redundancy to deal with. Sammy was an expensive investment, and though he was ultimately as disposable as any other Union soldier must be to defend the Earth, his makers had made very sure that anyone trying to stop him would have to work damn hard at it.
Which is why the only problem Sammy could find was a complete absence of any record of memories from the past seventeen hours, since he was first re-activated and sent into battle. His longterm datacores were perfectly intact, his personality and instincts and skills unaffected, even his short-term memory units were fully functional...they were simply now empty, recorded data lost to whatever just happened...
But even bereft of immediate memories, he still had his programming, and he still had his orders. And the strident emergency request for aid could only have one response. Somewhere behind the door Sammy now faced, Union personel were under overwhemling attack from Reality Deviants (well, the Reality Deviants that weren't on the Union's side) and needed aid.
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Jessie
From: Malada
Jeff writes:
> The lead Kindred has already detached himself from
> his zip line. He is standing over a Crinos form
> Garou just a two meters in front of where Jesse lies
> buried. The Garou is partially pinned by a block of
> concrete, and is unconcious, oblivious to the Kindred
> commando over him. The Kindred lowers the barrel
> of his AR-15 assault rifle right down to the back of the fallen
> Garou's head, execution style, and prepares to pull the trigger...
Two meters? She's in Crinos. That's in reach.
Jessie reaches out and grabs the leech's arm...
...and rips it off. No real need to roll for that. :-)
Jessie takes the AR-15.
{"Thanks! Ah've always wanted one of these!"}
If any other leeches have dropped into the room she'll immediately open fire.
-Jessie
The BoneGnawer has an automatic weapon.
Be afraid.
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Jessie
From: Jeff
Malada wrote:
> > The lead Kindred has already detached himself from
> > his zip line. He is standing over a Crinos form
> > Garou just a two meters in front of where Jesse lies
> > buried. The Garou is partially pinned by a block of
> > concrete, and is unconcious, oblivious to the Kindred
> > commando over him. The Kindred lowers the barrel
> > of his AR-15 assault rifle right down to the back of the fallen
> > Garou's head, execution style, and prepares to pull the trigger...
>
> Two meters? She's in Crinos. That's in reach.
>
> Jessie reaches out and grabs the leech's arm...
The gun barrel goes wide of the mark as Jessie's claws plunge into his armor. But what is striking is the lack of surprise or shock on his African face, even when caught totally by surprise at point blank range by a Crinos. Indeed, his face gives away nothing but the perfect warrior's emotionless calm. Even as Jessie's first strike rips into him his perfectly trained body is already gathering its response...
> ...and rips it off. No real need to roll for that. :-)
- Unknown Kindred
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Sammy
From: Kylinn
Jeff writes:
>Somewhere behind the door Sammy now faced, Union
>personnel were under overwhelming attack from Reality
>Deviants (well, the Reality Deviants that weren't on
>the Union's side for now) and needed aid.
Accordingly, he pulled the right-hand door open, ignoring the scream of tortured metal, and stepped forward, weapons ready.
-Sammy
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Jessie
From: Malada
Jeff writes:
> The gun barrel goes wide of the mark...
Na-nah, na-nah, na-nah-nah.
> ....as Jessie's
> claws plunge into his armor. But what is striking
> is the lack of surprise or shock on his African
> face, even when caught totally by surprise at
> point blank range by a Crinos. Indeed, his
> face gives away nothing but the perfect warrior's
> emotionless calm. Even as Jessie's first strike
> rips into him his perfectly trained body is
> already gathering it's response...
{"Smile before I kills you!"} she roars.
As for Jessie, her thoughts are simple. She's alone, fighting multiple enemies - no time for planning, plotting or calling on spirits. The leeches are heavily armed and loaded for bear. Her chances of survival are well, pretty darned slim.
But that's okay. It's a good day to die.
Who's a-coming with me?
> - Unknown Kindred
-Jessie
Known Ragabash
Hey! Howz about ye?
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Jessie
From: Jeff
Malada wrote:
> {"Smile before I kills you!"} she roars.
With a horrifying rip of sound, Kevlar armor and undead flesh rip apart as the Kindred's arm is very messily severed from his body, along with the rifle.
That causes his face to grimace in obvious pain. A lesser Kindred would have given up the fight --indeed, there is virtually nothing that could save a Kindred unlucky enough to have happend to land in arm's reach of a Crinos Garou...
But this Kindred is no ordinary footsoldier. With his remaining arm he whips a sawed-off shotgun out from a behind-the-back holster with lighting speed jams the end of the barrel directly into Jessie's chest.
Nothing happens when he pulls the trigger.
The formerly emotionless Kindred now shows real, uncomprehending surprise in the brief moment before Jessie makes her next attack...
> -Jessie
> Known Ragabash
> Hey! Howz about ye?
- Unknown Kindred
What the $#%!!?
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Sammy
From: Jeff
Kylinn wrote:
> Accordingly, he pulled the right-hand door open,
> ignoring the scream of tortured metal, and stepped
> forward, weapons ready.
From below, a roar of a Garou and a sound Sammy's auditory systems isolate as the sound of kevlar and flesh ripping apart. As Sammy comes onto the balcony overlooking the underground chamber Sammy's tactical and forensic subroutines swiftly sort through the new data and piece together the immediate situation...
From the positions of the debris and the patterns of blast damage, the initial event was a massive explosion from above. From the motionless bodies scattered throughout, the attack was completely unanticipated. A few of the injured and dead bear Union communicators, all broadcasting on emergency "officer-down" signals. From the zip lines and their aggressive actions, the heat-less reality deviants -- swiftly identified as "Kindred" -- followed the breaching charge down. And Sammy has been instructed that all Kindred are the Enemy.
On the floor below, a huge Garou is locked in mortal combat with a Kindred -- the Kindred's left arm now ripped clean off. He whips a shotgun out of back holster and jams it into his opponent -- and nothing happens. Immediately behind him two other attackers drop into firing position and aim their rifles at the rampaging Garou --and both react with surprise when their rifles do not work, either. A swift sensory sweep of the dozen attackers finds that all of the firearms borne by the presumed attackers are loaded with inert ammunition. Other, more specialized arrays report traces of a major controlled energy burst consistent with the reported abilties of the Fae. Preliminary analysis suggests a high probability that these two unsual findings are connected, concluding that one of the Reality Deviants was perhaps able to induce an isolated high entropy event in the firearms of the attackers --and defenders; indeed, all the weapons in the chamber.
A swift repeat diagnostic confirms that Sammy's own weapon systems are fully functional.
Another roar as a Troll rouses himself and flings himself at the nearst Kindred. A Union agent crawls up on a bloody arm and points his sidearm at another commando -- only to discover his weapon doesn't work, either. Knives are drawn and debris is taken up as clubs as both sides begin a brutal physical melee...
None of the attackers seem to have noticed Sammy yet -- if Sammy had used weapons to open the door, they would have, but the sound of the door being hauled open could easily be ignored as simply the sound of settling or collapsing debris, and presumably Sammy would have been careful to minimize his detectabilty.
Sammy has clean shots on four or five Kindred, but the rest -- including the one fighting Jessie -- have obstructed fields of fire.
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Sammy
From: Kylinn
Jeff wrote:
<snip>
> A swift repeat diagnostic confirms that
> Sammy's own weapon systems are fully functional.
<snip>
Analysis: Conditions too crowded for use of dragonsbreath rounds; chance of damage to allies unacceptably high.
Analysis: Priority: Destroy Reality Deviants type "Kindred".
Analysis: Priority: Protect Union personnel and allies from Reality Deviants type "Kindred". Associated Priority: Protect the wounded.
Analysis: Weapons of allies disabled.
Analysis...
Analysis...
... Conclusion: Draw their fire.
> Sammy has clean shots on four or five
> Kindred, but the rest --including the
> one fighting Jessie-- have obstructed
> fields of fire.
Sammy fires methodically at the Reality Deviants of the type "Kindred", aiming for the head. The advanced routines in his subsystems re-calculate optimal firing patterns with each shot, data cascading though his mind in patterns that are almost ... pleasurable. This is what he was built for.
*BLAM*
One Kindred falls, twitching, as a precise shot neatly blows through its skull.
*BLAM*
Another flops messily to the floor.
*BLAM*
A third monster is rocked back as Sammy's third shot slams into it.
-Sammy, HITMark
Now that I have your attention...
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Sammy
From: Jeff
Kylinn wrote:
> Sammy fires methodically at the Reality Deviants
> of the type "Kindred", aiming for the head. The advanced
> routines in his subsystems re-calculate optimal firing
> patterns with each shot, data cascading though his mind
> in patterns that are almost ... pleasurable. This is
> what he was built for.
A huge, hulking, Germanic vampire drives his fist into the belly of a charging, wounded troll. The troll crumples over the fist as the vampire brings his other, combat-knife wielding hand down for the kill...
> *BLAM*
>
> One Kindred falls, twitching, as a precise shot neatly
> blows through its skull. (8 levels of damage).
...the knife falls out of a suddenly limp hand as the nerveless body falls on his would-be victim.
A lithe vampire of Arabic descent leaps up on a column midway through a lightning-fast attack....
> *BLAM*
>
> Another flops messily to the floor.
A short Asian vampire swings a iron bar right at Jessie's blind-side--
> *BLAM*
>
> A third monster is rocked back as Sammy's third
> shot slams into it.
"COVER! TAKE COVER!" a red-headed vampire screams as she and her surviving men duck, twist and roll crazily, using blood-fueled speed to put innocents between themselves and the source of the gunfire...
> -Sammy, HITMark
> Now that I have your attention...
- Kindred
Only the Garou are stupid enough to charge a sniper...
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon/Sammy
From: Kylinn
Jeff writes:
> "COVER! TAKE COVER!" a red-headed vampire
> screams as she and her surviving men
> duck, twist and roll crazily, using blood-
> fueled speed to put innocents between
> themselves and the source of the gunfire...
Aiming carefully, Sammy snaps off another shot at a lagging undead, one with further to run than the rest.
*BLAM*
The vampire falls, screaming, as its right leg is blown away above the knee.
Sammy holsters his weapon and charges into melee, leaping to put himself between the wounded and the monsters.
> - Kindred
> Only the Garou are stupid enough to charge a sniper...
-Sammy, HITMark
Foolish. Enough of you could bear me under and take the gun
away. But none of you wants to risk being killed for the greater
good? That is why we will win.
Subj: Re: [ReiM] WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Jessie
From: Malada
Jeff writes:
> But this Kindred is no ordinary footsoldier.
> With his remaining arm he whips a sawed-off
> shotgun out from a behind-the-back holster
> with lighting speed jams the end of the
> barrel directly into Jessie's chest.
She twists her chest hoping not to take the full force of the blast.
> Nothing happens when he pulls the trigger.
>
> The formerly emotionless Kindred now shows
> real, uncomprehending surprise in the brief
> moment before Jessie makes her next attack...
To Jessie it looks like someone has thrown the Gift "Jam Technology". And boy is she a happy puppy now.
She goes for the Big Bite.
CHOMP!
BLECH!
-Jessie
Is there any mouthwash around?
Subj: Re: [ReiM] WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Jessie
From: Jeffrey Huo
Malada wrote:
> To Jessie it looks like someone has thrown
> the Gift "Jam Technology". And boy
> is she a happy puppy now.
The very last thing the Kindred warrior ever sees is two massive fang-filled jaws closing over his head, and more than two-hundred years of unlife come to a violent, bloody end.
Too many things conspired against him -- exhaustion from nearly a day's worth of prior fighting, a mission thrown on too quickly and with too little intelligence; the sheer bad fortune to land unknowingly within arm's reach of a hidden Crinos Garou, to further lose his weapon to a Fae cantrip. He might still have escaped even the last fatal attack with blood-fueled inhuman strength and reflexes...except for the wounded Church Knight, bleeding profusely from her nose and holding herself up from the floor by sheer will, who prevents him.
"Christi Imperat!" she cries, as she projects the power of her faith squarely on the struggling Kindred. The powers of Caine and God lock in opposition for the fraction of a second needed to deny him a chance to escape Jessie's attack. The delay is mortal for the Kindred and the Hospitalier alike. As Jessie's jaws decapitate her opponent, one of his soldiers bashes in the brave Church Knight's skull, just before the killer in turn loses her right leg below the knee to a perfectly aimed gunshot.
As Jessie dispatches her opponent, she will hear, about the roar of battle, a cry of pain --a distinctive one Jessie knows! Across the field of battle, a Kindred delivers a viscious blow to Andrea, who goes flying...
> -Jessie
> Is there any mouthwash around?
- Unknown Kindred
GAAARRRGG---
- Rhiannon O'Brien, fallen knight of St. John
For Kallen, Laughs-at-Shadows, whom you slew.
Burn in Hell, Theo Bell!
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Sammy
From: Jeff
Kylinn wrote:
> Aiming carefully, Sammy snaps off another
> shot at a lagging undead, one with further
> to run than the rest.
One who has taken one moment too long to crush the skull of a wounded medic...
> Sammy holsters his weapon and charges
> into melee, leaping to put himself between
> the wounded and the monsters.
To Sammy's left, an enraged Garou makes a grisly end to her enemy.
To Sammy's right, a vampire commando is about to attack a cowering child -- her head snaps up as a flying blur of vixen Pooka leaps to stop the commando -- instantly the vampire unleashes a viscious roundhouse stroke with the butt of her rifle -- the vixen goes flying hard against the wall -- the commando prepares to gut the pooka with the bayonet -- an eldery Nocker comes charging hard -- the Kindred whips around and gut-spears the Nocker --
- Andrea Su-sing Joie Varie, Pooka Healer
No! (fox growl--*SMACK*
- Charles Farnsworth, Nocker Master
Dame Andrea! No! URRRGH--
Subj: Re: [ReiM] WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Jessie
From: Malada
Jeff writes:
> As Jessie dispatches her opponent, she
> will hear, about the roar of battle,
> a cry of pain --a distinctive one
> Jessie knows! Across the field of
> battle, a Kindred delivers a viscious
> blow to Andrea, who goes flying...
{"NO!"} Jessie leaps like a football player going for that long pass and snatches Andrea out of the air...
... so it is the sturdy Garou who hits the hard cement wall and not the frail pooka.
-SLAM-
-Jessie
Truly a "Hail Mary" pass
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Sammy
From: Kylinn
Jeff wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Feb 2004, Kylinn wrote:> the commando prepares to gut the
> pooka with the bayonet --an eldery Nocker
> comes charging hard-- the Kindred whips
> around and gut-spears the Nocker--
Sammy slashs out with his claws (claws? he has claws? he does now - and long, sharp, and nasty they look indeed) and nearly bisects the monster. As blood and guts spray over him, he impassively swings his arm back the other way ... and completes the job. Two halves of vampire fall to the floor.
Sammy turns calmly to deal with the next monsters.
> - Charles Farnsworth, Knocker Master
> Dame Andrea! No! URRRGH--
-Sammy, HITMark
I suggest that behind me is a good place to be.
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Jessie
From: Jeff
Malada wrote:
> ... so it is the sturdy Garou who hits
> the hard cement wall and not the frail pooka.
Headfirst.
> -SLAM-
Blinding, starry-pain --and then unconciousness.
> -Jessie
> Truly a "Hail Mary" pass
- Andrea
(Ooof!)
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Jessie
From: Malada
Jeff writes:
>> ... so it is the sturdy Garou who hits the
>> hard cement wall and not the frail pooka.
>
> Headfirst.
Some would say the softest part of her body...
>> -SLAM-
>
> Blinding, starry-pain --and then unconciousness.
>> -Jessie
>> Truly a "Hail Mary" pass
>
> - Andrea
> (Ooof!)
-Jessie
I GOT HER! I GOT.... <>BONK!<>
Subj: Re: WfNY / The Battle for Command Node Epsilon / Sammy
From: Jeff
Kylinn wrote:
> Sammy turns calmly to deal with the next monsters.
Andrea shakes herself out of the momentary stunnage and wriggles out of the protective grasp of a now unconcious Jessie. With obvious concern on her blood-matted face, Andrea quickly and professionally checks Jessie to see if she is alright --which, to Andrea's relief, Jessie is, other than being out flat solid cold.
A groan from behind and Andrea quickly leaves Jessie for the Nocker who had saved Andrea's life. She races over the debris to the Nocker's side, tearing open his motley combat vest, soaked with blood, to expose the gruesome wound. The Kindred's bayonet, with serrated teeth and blood grooves, was designed for maximum damage, and the cruel twist she put into it has left bloody ruin. Andrea sucks in her Glamour to prepare for a desperate cantrip to save his life...and stops when a weak, shaky hand pulls her paws away.
He tries to speak, blood bubbling out of his mouth --Andrea swiftly cradles his head--
"Andrea," he says, weakly, raising a shaky hand to quiet Andrea when she tries to begin to protest. "I'm done."
"I burned the last of my Glamour to power the Jinx," referring to the massive, overpowering Cantrip that wiped out the firearms of the Kindred and saved the defenders from anihilation.
"It's gone -- all gone. The Dreaming is fading from my eyes. And that can't be healed."
"Let me be reborn, Andrea," he smiles, weakly, as his eyes begin to dim. "It's time. Let me go."
"Just...let me see you smile, one last time...so I'll know what to look for, the next time around."
Tears run down Andrea's facial fur and drop, mingling with the Nocker Grump's blood. But even with the tears, she smiles.
"See you next time, brave Charles," Andrea whispers, gently, very gently kissing the dying Knocker on the forehead.
He smiles. Sighs. And is gone.
Andrea gently sets the fallen Nocker down. Tries to rise to see to the next wounded victim. But now a spread of red blood finally appears on the surface of her own clothing --and her own injuries finally catch up to her. She too, collapses.
.....
The battle is virtually over. Without firearms of their own and with a Union killing machine in their midst -- it is all over but the dying.
At the other end of the chamber, a Kindred is literally ripped in half by a roaring Crinos Garou -- the one whose life the now unconcious Jessie saved. Another literally explodes in fire. Sammy probably only has to kill a few more Kindred before heavily armed reenforcments finally manage to break through the debris from levels below and finish the job.
Among the reenforcements is a golden retriever Pooka in tattered, stained trench coat, a combat medkit slung over one shoulder and a sawed off Union pulse rifle in his hands. With the combat medic's professional practice he drops to the ground and begins triaging the many victims, as other medical and security personnel fan out to do their jobs...
For Markus Rage-Like-Fire, legendary Philodox of the Get, second only to Golgol Fangs-First and King Albrecht himself in the litany of Fenris' warriors in North America, the end of fighting brings a moment of contemplation. He picks up the severed arm, still clutching the rifle, unloads the ammunition, examines it carefully, sniffing, suspecting something, appearing to have it confirmed.
He then kneels down to examine the headless body of the Kindred Jessie decaptitated. There is obviously no useful information from what is left of the head... but the Get Jarl of War knows what he is looking for.
He examines carefully the shotgun still clutched in the dead Kindred's hand, turning it over in his hand to view it carefully in the flickering lights of the fires.
With razor claws he carefully strips the armor and clothing off of the arm...finds an ancient slave brand and a series of distinctive tattoos. He nods to himself, confirming his suspicions.
He rises to where Turnberry is now checking over Jessie. "How will she be?" he asks.
<She'll be out for a while...but she'll be alright,> Turnberry answers with his voicebox, with the straight truth his box allows.
Markus nods, satisifed. "Be sure that she does," he smiles. "For she saved my life...and to be the Garou who Gaia chose to avenge the many heroes who fell to Theo Bell, arch-archon of the Brujah -- for that, every Tribe will know and honor her."
Markus gently fingers the dog tags around Jessie's throat.
"Jessie," he smiles. "A good name for the Silver Record."
....
End scene.
....
Subj: WfNY / Interlude / From: Jeffrey Sean Huo
Twenty minutes earlier:
"Command Node Epsilon! They're taking Sturbridge to Command Node Epsilon! They're two minutes away!"
The young ghoul's excited cry is a contrast to the cool, dark, carefully climate controlled ultra-modern war-room he and more than two dozen other personel are feverishly working in. Then again, the cool and dark is an utter contrast to the near-panic beating through the sweating ghouls. Fear is an ever-present part of life in service to the Kindred. But for the first time, these servants of the Ivory Tower have begun to seriously reflect on the possibilty that they might very well lose.
The hideously scarred Nosferatu in the middle of the command center does not show any sign at all of fear. Or any other lesser human emotion. He punches a stud on the arm of his chair.
"You have the coordinates," he speaks to an unseen subordinate. "Take your best team and go. They'll be inside by the time you get there."
"Breach the facility and make sure she becomes nothing but ashes."
He does not need to say that anyone and everyone who gets in the way will die as well.
.....
Deep underground, in one of the countless miles of tunnels beneath the now war-torn city, a small team races as if all the legions of Hell were pursuing them.
Which, frankly, they are.
A grim, scarred, but yet unearthly beautiful commando, sable unicorn earrings on his pointed ears. A brown feline pooka with long, flowing white hair, compound bow and nearly depleted sheath of arrows over her modern body armor. A muscular, bald-headed, bronze-skinned warrior with the implacable facial expression that speaks of the inhuman calm of the Amenti. A blonde-haired woman with sword drawn. The last two drag between them a bloodied corpse that perhaps once was an coldly attractive lady. Last of all, in the rear, a huge, hulking Hispo covers point, constantly looking backwards, limping on three paws.
They stop at a T-junction in the tunnels. The pooka starts left, only to be grabbed by the Scathach.
"But Command Node Epsilon is to the *mmmm*!" she quietly whispers vehemently, pointing down the left.
"Command Central is to the right," the Knight counters.
"But we just *mmmm* Command Central we're *mmmm*ing to Command Node Epsilon- "
The Knight spins to face the pooka squarely. "Listen to me, Scottina," he whispers, urgently. "There has to be a traitor in Command Central. Somebody has to be telling the Enemy what we're doing - that's the only explanation for half the shit that's gone down on this run."
"Look," he continues quickly - "the Leeches can't find us in the tunnels. But they know we have to eventually reappear at one of the Command Centers. They're trying to figure out which one we're going to and will try to stop us there. As soon as they figure out where we're headed, they're going to put their best people into place to meet us. And we don't have the troops left to break through," motioning to the pitfully small group remaining.
"We've got to find a way to divert them from us. That's why I just called in our destination as Epsilon - when we're really just going to go straight on through to Central. If they have our communications tapped - like I think they do - then they'll hit the wrong place."
Horror on the pooka's face is swiftly replaced by sheer anger - "You're *mmm*ing to have them *mmmm* the Medical Node - "
"Yes!" he nearly whisper-shouts. "Yes, I'm sending them to the Medical Node! Yes, I'm telling the Leeches to send a slaughter team after our wounded and our medics! Because it's the only Node in the opposite direction of where we're going!"
"Listen, Scottina," he says, almost desperate, a haunted look on his face. "If I have to trade every life in Command Node Epsilon for that - " pointing at the Kindred in Topor being hauled by the rear-guard - "I'll do it. I'll add all their lives to the hundred we've already lost to get this far. Because if we can get that worthless piece of shit Tremere bitch in the hands of even a half-decent NWO or Quaesitor, with what's in her head we'll have everything. Defense codes, chantry locations, passwords, everything. The leeches will be fucking finished, and we'll win this damn War - instead of losing it."
"I'll sacrifice anyone and anything for that chance, Scottina. Even the wounded and the medics. Even her Grace Andrea. And then I'll end my own life to atone for the oath to her I broke - but before I die I'll breathe free New York air. Got it?"
Scottina stares at him, face like stone. And then she shakes her head in acknowledgement.
Down the right-hand tunnel they scurry.
.......
The commando places the massive shaped charge on the solid concrete slab. With a smear of blood, the device is armed. He retreats back to where the other commandos are alreay preparing their lines.
Theo Bell, arch-archon of the clan Brujah, the warrior to which things at their worst were always assigned, most recently slayer of the beloved Master Bard of the Fianna Kallen Laughs-at-Shadows, killing the Garou in combat just a half hour earlier, made a last check of his equipment.
"Remember why we're here," he addresses his troops. "Remember why the REMFs can't just toss a bomb down this place and be done with it - we need to make sure she's dead so those damn dog witches can't pull all of our secrets out of her head. No burying her in debris, no losing her down a shaft - she's got to be ashes and one of us has to confirm it done."
"Kill everything that moves, but remember we're not just here to kill. We're here to make sure that stupid Tremere hussy is dead, good and dead. That's first and only priority. Everything else comes second. Search the wards for her and kill her. Then we can bug out so I can finish using the pelt of that singing Fianna bitch to wipe my dick."
Feral laughter.
"Okay. Here we go. Fire in the hole..."
....