The Zone

Ticket Price:

Player Ticket: £65 (Includes Gun Hire and Partial Catering)

Crew Ticket: Free (and Full Catering)

Venue:

Giants Seat Scout Camp

Mostly Camping, Some Bunk Space Availiable

Event 10 Rumours

The military are coming, no two ways about it. After the dramatic wiping out of seemingly every MI7 agent in the Zone, coupled with the rumoured theft of high-end technology from a squad of soldiers, there simply has to be a response. The only question now is what form it will take and how indiscriminate the shooting will be. Many freelancers are hunkering down as best they can and the factions are going into crisis mode. Very few people have the resources to defend themselves, and hiding is the least worst of the remaining options.

After the expulsion of several corporations a couple of months back, things seem to have calmed a little. Corporate assassinations are still at a record high, but business is being carried out much more quietly. Many of the more seasoned freelancers are more tense than ever though, sensing what seems to be the calm before a very, very unpleasant storm.

One or two of the Bars are attempting to fortify, something they haven't previously felt the need to do. Whether this is in response to Elias or the coming military rampage is unclear. Previously, the Bars have relied on being a necessity for everyone to avoid the need for security, and obvious fortification only attracts satellite attention, but it seems times are desperate.

The mysterious assassin known to some as the Protean has been seen stalking the northern reaches of the Zone recently, a long way from their previous southern stomping ground. A bounty raised on them previously was claimed in the south, so the assumption is that either the previous kill was a failure or a fraud, or that whatever laboratory spawned them has produced a second.

Event 10 After Action Report

The much-rumoured military expansion out of the centre never seemed to materialise. If anything, there was a smaller military presence in the wider Zone than usual. That isn't to say there was no escalation at all…

It seems there were two known incidents involving government troops, one with freelancers in the south on a mission to gather corporate data before the military could get to it, and one in the north on a mission to steal a piece of prototype equipment. In the first case, the freelancers gathered the data but had a few skirmishes with soldiers in the area. In the second case the target device had already been captured by soldiers and corporate interests were hiring freelancers to take it back. In both instances the response was the same. As soon as the soldiers had lost the upper hand they responded with some form of aerial bombardment. A thirty minute warning was broadcast on open frequencies before the bombardment started, but the warning was broadcast on open radio rather than just sent to other military on their encrypted system.

A third warning and bombardment occurred the following day, but there was no record of any missions going on and nobody has reported any kind of military engagement on that day. Theories abound as they always do, but the how and why of this third engagement has taken something of a back seat to the wider concerns.

One important piece of information drilled into every freelancer when they arrive is the need to be discrete. Foreign governments are constantly watching the Zone with satellites, the UK is constantly watching the same way to make sure nothing is too visible. Everyone knows the Zone exists, everyone knows what happens here, but no-one is ever willing to admit anything. Deniability is the ultimate armour against the legal repercussions of the deeply unethical activities taking place here. A foreign government with clear proof of UK military activity in the Zone has significant leverage in any negotiations, or they can simply go public and blow the whole thing wide open. Three aerial bombardments, presumably from artillery pieces referenced in the radio warnings, would be clearly visible on satellite. Something out in the wider world has changed significantly.

Heavy fighting was reported at an old manor house, thought to be in use by the original pre-evacuation residents. There had been a steady trickle of bandits and the like into the area, seemingly for some kind of paying work, but that has now stopped entirely. It can only be assumed there has been some kind of violent takeover, but no-one has any idea who the new residents might be. Best guess seems to be a new corporation seizing temporary accommodations while they build underground facilities.