HotZone South of the Border

A companion and concurrent campaign to HotZone (East Timor), HotZone Deux(Corsica), HotZone 3 (Albania), HotZone 4 (Romania).

Characters

• Iggy (Stanley Ignatious Kwiakowski), Blair's techno-monk
• John Murdock, Darren's....
• Aluf Mishne, aka Rasputin, aka The Mad Jew, Josh's combat-hardened "Mad Jew" from Gaza

Background

Global Context

(The following was written in 2007.) It's ten years in the future on Gurth, and the world has changed significantly in the last 20 years. America invaded Iraq in 2003, and tensions began escalating worldwide immediately. In 2008, the sectarian violence in Iraq spread like wildfire, and War in Iraq became the War in the Middle East which became the Central Asian Crisis. Long before pundits stopped changing the label, it was a world class clusterfuck. Had Russia, China, and India not united to quell the violence through diplomatic means in 2011-2012, the crisis was on track to evolve into World War 3.

This gradual unraveling of peaceful cohabitation was apparent to military leaders in numerous countries, and in fact the United States Special Operations Command presciently predicted a change in strategy would be required way back in 2006 when they issued the following public statement:

“Creating conditions where people want to live peacefully is a powerful weapon against terrorism. Direct action will become increasingly restricted as the Global War on Terrorism matures. Indirect actions of Foreign Internal Defense and Civil Affairs programs are the key to winning the war on terror.” 1

Powerful governments with awesome military arsenals became increasingly aware that wielding their power was becoming politically untenable in all but the most extreme situations. United States Special Operations Command, as just one example of a trend worldwide, quadrupled in funding and personnel from 2008-2015, but forced a significant portion of their Direct Action specialists into early retirement, and instead filled their ranks with civil engineers, psy ops specialists, administrators, and diplomats.

However, focused Direct Action operations will always be required when organized groups are willing to commit violence to contravene national interests, and so outside of government military operations, a second and third tier of operatives evolved. The second tier consisted of large private security companies, with tens of thousands of employees, some tiny portion of which could be used for “wet work” of Direct Action operations.

The third tier has evolved over the past 7-8 years. Increasing public scrutiny over and demand for transparency in military expenditures in industrialized nations worldwide has made certain operations difficult to fund through the large and somewhat infamous security corporations. However, worldwide, government agencies always have funds available for classified “black” operations, and it is here that the third tier of operatives has found its niche.

This third tier, or “SubNet” is a loose affiliation of a few thousand specialists and commanders worldwide, mostly ex-military. By adopting terrorist organizations' practice of maintaining “cells” which know little about global operations, the SubNet maintains a thick veil and appears to be nothing more than disconnected gangs of shadowy figures.

Your Team

Isabella Lopez

Chuy Gomez

Paula Jones

Your team is one such cell.

You're all freelance mercenaries who have been working as a team for the last five years, based out of a small island compound off the coast of San Carlos, Mexico, on the Gulf of California.

Your compound was built by an ostentatious drug lord in the 1980s, fell derelict through the early 2000s, and most recently restored by your predecessor, a software billionaire with a lot of paranoia who has since moved on to Antarctica. You have made significant alterations as well, and now the compound includes:

• 12,000 sq ft 9-bedroom modern mansion with bulletproof glass throughout
• Infrared and other sensors throughout the island connected to an elaborate security system
• Helipad and lightweight helicopter
• A dock in a protected cove with two racing boats and a fishing boat
• An underground shooting range and armory
• An elaborate outdoor gym
• A diving board at the top of a 50' cliff above warm aquamarine waters
• A completely self-sufficient reverse osmosis and wastewater treatment system
• Several outbuildings - staff quarters, electronics lab
• Infinity pool and tiki bar with sound system and dance floor

You have two full time staff on the island, and an on-call pilot.

• Isabella Lopez is your financial manager, short-range helicopter pilot, cocktail waitress, and Brazilian dance instructor.
• Chuy Gomez is your groundskeeper, maintenance man, executive chef, and ballroom dance instructor.
• Paula Jones lives in San Carlos near a private airstrip and warehouse where she maintains a customized Gulfstream 650 and several boats and other vehicles for you. She is available 92% of the time to take you anywhere in the hemisphere. The rest of the time she is transporting other wealthy clients, or drunk at the bar.

It's typical for your team to go months between missions, and during downtime, you might do some rock climbing, sport fishing, illegal gambling, motorcycle racing, pearl diving, or tequila guzzling. Or you may take trips into Mexico City for concerts and to tour the museums and opera, if you're into that sort of thing.

Some recent missions include:

• The local pearl tycoon paid you US$500,000 to track down a stolen shipment. The Venezuelan gang that took them didn't go easily, and some of you vowed to carry more ammunition in the future.
• Mr. Black paid you to conduct surveillance on an offshore drilling rig in the Pacific. Your drone was disappeared mysteriously, and you had to go in quietly on a raft at night to take pictures -- of a Chinese submarine paying the rig a visit.
• Captain Ramon Ramirez of the Mexican military hired you as a support team during a raid on a cartel compound outside Mexico City. The operation was a bloody mess, and Ramirez, previously a reliable client, could not produce the US$750,000 cash he'd promised, but you accepted crates of synthetic smart drugs valued at $2M.
• A German journalist paid you €150,000 to drive her to a mountain compound and ensure her safety during a meeting with a cartel boss. The trip was uneventful.

Character Creation

Background stories and proposed character details are due to the GM by end of day.....FEB 26, 2017

These are 250 point action hero characters.

If you are not building your character:

Please provide:

• Name, gender, age (28-55), height, weight
• Appearance description + (Hideous/Ugly/Unattractive/Average/Attractive/Gorgeous)
• Background story (many examples at HotZone#Characters, HotZone_Deux#Characters, HotZone_3#Characters)
• If trained by a national military, which? What focus? How long? How far did you get?
• If not, who taught you your action hero skills?
• Native language, additional languages (broken, accented, or fluent?)
• Social strengths and weaknesses - super schmoozy, perfect liar, terrible liar, playboy, barking colonel, or an awkward loner or something else?
• Personality and/or proposed Advantages & Disadvantages
• Minimum One Contact -- an acquaintance or colleague or partner, somewhere, who might be able to provide information, sometimes. More knowledgeable and available contacts cost more, of course. Without Contacts, you have no social history, nobody worth calling for advice, assistance, or info.
• Skills -- your focus/expertise. You can only be super-awesome at one or two things, but sometimes it can be more valauble to be versatile and pretty good at lots of things.
• Desired Attributes (ST, IQ, DX, HT, 8-16)
• Desired "go bag" gear. Two enormous revolvers and a bulletproof vest? 12 lbs of C4? $50k in cash? Laptop and bug detector? Etc. Additional gear will be available, this is just a starter list.
• Anything special you want to propose. Deep kung-fu training. Insane pistol skills. Ability to pilot any aircraft. Rapid Healing. Tons of hit points. Personal cell phone number of the King of Indonesia?
• Quirks, dislikes, habits, sayings, prejudices, fears, appetites, scars, tattoos, enemies, etc.

Constraints:

• Though your skills may be focused anywhere you like, you are a capable tactical operator. You can run and shoot.
• Nothing supernatural.
• You can speak English competently -- additional languages are encouraged (and cost a couple points each).
• Your background almost certainly includes years of state military training. But you no longer have any Duty to any government.
• Sense of Duty to the team.

If you are building your character:

• Max 150 points total in Attributes (ST, DX, HT, IQ) -- and Max Level 16 in any attribute.
• Max -100 points in Disadvantages
• -5 points in Quirks required
• 5 points in Perks optional

What Happened

Just a Stolen Boat

It's noon on a Tuesday, and half the team is enjoying themselves elsewhere, but Aluf Mishne, Iggy, and John Murdock are hanging around the compound, engaged in their respective hobbies.

Bella, while bring a third beer to Murdock in the underground gun range, gets a phone call, and immediately seems distressed. Murdock arranges for Iggy to listen in, and when she hangs up she reports that her cousin Carlos has a problem.

It seems that the Hijar brothers, Pepe and Tony, threatened violence and made off with the boat, a charter fishing vessel which constitutes the entirety of Carlos' livelihood. "Can't you please help", pleads young Bella.

Naturally, the team takes action. The Mad Jew is brought up to speed, Isabella is given a budget to rent Carlos a temporary replacement boat, go-bags are packed, dossiers are downloaded on the small-time crook brothers, and the team is aloft in Bella's light helicopter.

First stop, the oceanside bar that Carlos is sitting in. They land on the roof and join him by the beach. Murdock begins drinking, naturally, and the team learns that the Hijars have a beachside compound 50 miles up the coast.

The team loads back into the chopper after convincing Murdock to leave the bar (quart of tequila in hand) and flies low along the rocky coastline as the afternoon sun turns the whole world orange. En route, Iggy programs tiny personal and network surveillance drones and sends them aloft once the team directs Bella to land them on the beach a mile south of the compound.

Debate ensues when a family of eight, cooking out on the beach, is spotted. The team is fully outfitted with tactical goggles, body armor and long guns, but opts to run straight at the family. The Mad Jew effectively terrorizes the innocent civilians and throws all their cell phone in the ocean. And then the team runs along.

After ascending a ridge of sand dunes, they survey the scene. Beyond, there is a placid lagoon, into which a long wooden pier juts. Two boats are moored, the stolen fishing boat, and a much larger powerboat sporting a pirate flag and anarchist graffiti.

On the beach, a dozen burly white guys in denim and leather are cavorting with guns and whiskey. The Hijar brothers are nowhere to be seen, but a modest villa rests on the hillside overlooking the beach.

While Iggy maneuvers his drone army into a 3D surveillance dome above the entire property, and Murdock practices switching targets in his rifle scope, the Hacidic Hammer crawls through the sand and scrub brush to sneak up on a urinating biker, surprises him, breaks his jaw, and drags him back for interrogation.

The terrified biker explains that the fishing vessel is to be used to transport a shipment and everyone's gonna make money, including the Hijar brothers, who are inside the villa, semi-captive, while everyone waits for the Columbians to arrive.

Not much more is learned before the Mad Jew slits his throat.

A plan begins brewing: kill em' all.

Or maybe: Just steal the boat back.

Until next episode....