Chapter IV
Before you stands one of the Naval Hospital’s buildings on
Pelonkerweg Strasse 117 in Oliva. It is a hideous architectural chimera, formed out of an unimpressive outright Spartan shape from the early previous century, combined with more recent and modern additions to its facade, that grow out of it like some kind of cancerous tissue. This is where your witness is, a survivor of yesterday’s attack in Oliva. You enter the lobby of the building in search of him.
“I am feldwebel Ida Westgard of the Europareich Army, as you have no doubt been informed I am here to investigate the Fuchs Clinic bombing.” You tell the receptionist as you show her your biometric Bundeswehr ID. “I want to talk to one of the patients here, his name is Alexander Olander, a GFG bank employee who was injured in yesterday’s attack.”
She sighs upon hearing his name. “Madam, that may be a problem.” She replies afterwards.
“How so? I have been authorized to investigate this case by the TSZ Garrison Command, the necessary legal requirements have been fulfilled as you can see on your terminal.”
“Well you see, Mr. Olander has visitors at the moment. They may not want you to interfere.”
“To hell with his visitors, this is a matter of European security! They have to let me talk to him or face the consequences!”
“Well Madam, I am not entirely sure about that, but if you want to try go to room 203 on the second floor.” The receptionist informs you.
After a moment you and the rest of the squad find room 203. Upon entering it you see an unusual sight, several men in suits surround the bed in which the covered in bandages Mr. Olander is resting. You are curious as to who are they, but you have a feeling they may be from his corp.
“Feldwebel Westgard I presume? We have been expecting you.” One of them says upon seeing you.
“I want to talk to Mr. Olander.”
“There will be no need to talk to him, as the legal team from the Goliath Financial Group we made sure you won’t have to, naturally to save you and the TSZ Garisson trouble Frau Feldwebel. Here is Mr. Olander’s written testimony.” Hands you a piece of paper.
You begin to read it
“I left the GFG building at around 19:58, upon opening the door of my car I felt a powerful blast. It knocked me back against the car behind me, I lied on the ground there until the firemen found me. I remember nothing else.
Alexander Olander 29.10.2057
This testimony is written and presented to the appropriate authorities, in accordance with the European Justice Commissioner’s directive number 17.3.2/5.”
“I still want to talk to him.” You tell him after reading the document.
“You already have his testimony, under Europa Bundesreich law a citizen may refuse to answer any of your questions, provided he writes a written testimony. By doing so he forfeits his right to change it in any way in the future. Furthermore, charges of lying under oath may be brought against him, if it is proven he lied in it. But Mr. Olander is definitely saying the truth in this case.”
“You can’t do this.”
“As I said Feldwebel, we can. Consult your superiors if you have doubts.” The lawyer answers with a smug grin on his face.
You left the room and called the Major, unfortunately he confirmed what the corporate lawyer said. Mr. Olander is a dead end in this investigation, unless you find some other way to get him to talk in the future.
The Major also said that the necessary paperwork, to search Miss Żuławska’s apartment and any data storage devices found there, has been submitted and approved by Garrison Command.
“What now Frau Feldwebel?” Sven asks.
“I need to make a private call, we’ll go to Żuławska’s apartment after that. Wait for me at the
Neinmask until I get back.”
*
The package breaks apart quickly under the force of your cybernetic arm. You grab the new Xin-Zheng zp-3910 phone and turn it on. It is a cheap model, cheap plastic around cheap and weak electronics with a cheap low-quality screen, the very definition of low-end communications.
But that’s what you wanted, something cheap with a pre-paid starter pack and enough bandwidth to call who you want to call and do online what you want to do. Just in case somebody wanted to track you down. You may not know much about computers, but you know how to avoid getting tracked when doing shady business online.
In the sea of advertisements under “computer security services” on “proclassifieds.org”, you find one ad that looks just like what you need. “Testudo Digital - Professional data recovery, advanced security measures, solid security upgrades and stress-tests. Call the number below or visit testudodigital.ek” You call the number.
“Hello, is this Testudo Digital?”
“Yes, may I help you with anything Madame?” An Italian voice answers, the sound quality of the zp-3910 is underwhelming to say the least.
“I need to recover some data, it got lost sometime in the past on the Net. It may have been *obscured* by the passage of time. You know how it is.”
“Of course Madame, I can dig it up. But what kind of data are we talking about?”
“The name is Otto Richter, date of birth 15.02.2031, Europa Bundesreich ID 3122157462. Find me everything that got *lost*, send to
seniorita732@ajaxmail.gr”
“That will be 51k Euro, but I want it paid in rupees to my account using the current exchange rate posted today on the site of the Indian Central Bank. You will find my account number on my website website.”
He hangs up.
Fifty one thousand, that’s more than you make in a month, luckily you have some cash saved up. After paying for the service and the phone you are left with 23000 Euro on your account. The army is paying you 27000 on the 5th and you get 4000 more for renting your apartment in Oslo. Well, you’ll see if the hacker is worth the 51000 you paid him. You dump the phone in a nearby garbage can after erasing the call data.
*
As you approach the
Neinmask Sieben a familiar sight gets displayed on your HUD, a flashing icon indicating an incoming call from one of your superiors. The Major wants to talk to you.
“Herr Major, what is it that you wanted to talk about?”
“The situation in Heibuden is getting worse, the news of yesterday’s murder has been met with a hostile response.” Major Schobel tells you.
“Have my orders changed? Am I to stop investigating the case?”
“For the moment yes, I want you to deal with the situation in the refugee camp. Go there and meet up with Feldwebel Skorzeny and the rest of your team. You can resume the investigation afterwards.”
“What is my objective?”
“Prevent the situation from escalating.”
“Affirmative Major.”
*
As you leave the port you turn right and drive off
Sucharski Strasse, just like the Nav-HUD tells you to. The
Neinmask stops before the refugee camp, a small town of tents on an area previously occupied by abandoned allotment gardens just next to the main road. It stretches far in the direction of the sea and the Deepwater Container Terminal in the north, and is separated by a chain-link fence from Heibuden itself. The Unteroffizier and the rest of your squad is waiting at the entrance.
A mass of dirty people surrounds Feldwebel Skorzeny. He is trying to calm down the crowd. You and your entire squad approach them.
“The murder is being investigated, I can assure you that the person responsible has been caught and will be punished soon.” Skorzeny says.
“Lies! You don’t care about us, you’ll just set him free so he comes back for our wives and daughters!” A middle-aged refugee yells.
“You don’t care about us! The only reason you don’t just kill us is because you want to look good in the news streams!” Another refugee shouts after him.
“The Europa Bundesreich does all it can to ensure safety and order within the refugee camps it protects, this was all just an unfortunate incident.”
A gunshot interrupts him, its ominous echo draws everyone’s attention to the man who fired it. A refugee holds a pistol and aims it high in the sky.
“Sir, I have to ask you to hand over that weapon. Firearms are not permitted inside the camp.” Skorzeny says.
“No! You cannot protect me or any of us, it is our right to protect ourselves, especially if this Europareich of yours is incapable of doing so! I am keeping my gun whether you like it or not.”
The crowd applauds him, clearly they have lost faith in the Army’s ability to maintain order.
“Sir this is your last warning, I will use force to confiscate your weapon if you resist.” Skorzeny explains, the crowd is in an uproar over his words.
“No! I will not let you fascists take away the last guarantee of safety that I have!”
The situation is tense, Skorzeny looks ready to enforce the law. Your squad looks nervous, whatever happens now can potentially get very messy very fast. You need to act now or it may be too late.
You will…
A)…side with the refugees, say that from now on guns will be permitted within the camp. Contact Command regarding that and convince them to change the rules.
B)…do nothing, let Skorzeny do what he wants. See how it plays out and act accordingly.
C)…shoot the refugee with the gun, show them that the rules are to be obeyed.
D)…try to explain that the rules ban guns in refugee camps for their own safety.
E)…tell them that they are free to go back to Russia if they don’t like it so much here.
4 or even 5 states to cheer for when when you inlude OiroReich. 
