Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Thoughts on Terror Network



I have wanted to write some personal musings about Terror Network since I started playing the game about six months back.

A while back I was looking for a role-playing game for my wife and brother-in-law whom have never role-played before AND for a good friend of mine who would be playing with us who has been gaming for almost a decade. Likewise, since I have never game mastered before I wanted a game that I could utilize (what I feel is) my broad knowledge about contemporary events. Lastly, and probably most importantly for the new gamers, I was looking for a game that we would all be able to pick up and understand without having to play three sessions to learn.

I went through drivethrurpg.net and rpg.net and looked for a game that had an interesting topic and streamlined gameplay. I am personally interested in hyper-realistic games that I can intertwine with real-world events. It is this guy's opinions that the today's/tomorrows headlines, the world of spies, double-agents, special forces and presidential cabinets is the way to create a compelling story / campaign / scenario. To be quite honest, the aforementioned topics can all be found in the fantasy world of Westeros of Geroge R.R. Martin and would probably make from some wonderful gaming - but I digress.

I looked for quite some time for the perfect game until I stumbled across Bedrock Games' Terror Network. The game was perfect for our group. It has a realistic setting with stories that can all too easily be taken from the headlines, it has a LETHAL combat system (or you can use their Hollywood version that is also included), the rulebook really only has about forty pages of easily understandable (and most importantly REALISTIC) rules, and lastly the game plays QUICKLY because of the rules.



The remainder of the pages in the rulebook help explain the groups and the different types of people that inhabit, well, our current world. There are suggestions and information that cover both foreign and homegrown terrorists as well as many of the different American governmental agencies. Terror Network uses the D10 as its main tool and the personalized character creation is what really sets this game apart.

My gaming group has now played six missions - three of which were tabletop battles using miniatures and three of them were pen and paper investigations in an attempt to track down a Somali terrorist cell in Minneapolis and searching for anti-ship missiles in Venezuela. In all cases the game (read the rules) held up well and at no point was there any finger pointing saying that "the rules don't say that!" Weather it was the lead investigator needing to use an unauthorized wiretap or if it was the blast radius of a fragmentation grenade the rules were there in an easy to read and comprehend manner.




I would highly recommend this game to anyone who wants to try something new or who wants to play in "a world" where essentially every possible scenario, location, and weapon can be found in the click of a finger on the internet. Hopefully this review was helpful and I hope that you give Terror Network a try. For the price, it cannot be rivaled or beat.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Terror Network Episode 5

The Hunt Begins Again

June 10th, 2010

The fifth episode in the series began with the news that Jack Cooper (a PC), the leader of the Minneapolis branch of the F.B.I. who foiled the attack by radical Somalis earlier in the year, was asked to head a taskforce that is to focus on tracking down some illicit missiles. Cooper was initially slated for a high ranking position in Washington D.C. but because of an event that occurred during the takedown of the Minneapolis cell (a reticent mother’s arm was grabbed and her baby fell to the floor and received serious damage) he was unable to be promoted inside of the bureaucratic agency. However, Jack Cooper, being a patriot, was entirely unconcerned with the “demotion” and immediately put together a hard charging team that was bent of confiscating the “missing” weapons.

The first member that Jack got to assist him was a D.E.A. agent by the name of Sarah Walker. (a new PC) She was sent by her superiors to help in the investigation of the missiles because one of her contacts in Colombia claims to have knowledge of the supposed transaction of the missiles to an up and coming Colombian Cartel run by the Lopez family. Jack hoped that Sarah’s D.E.A. contacts would be an invaluable source of information about South America and their drug-dealing epidemic; he would not be disappointed.



The next addition to the team was the indefatigable and recently promoted Lucy Castillo. (a PC) Lucy is now an assistant in the Counter-Intelligence Branch of the F.B.I. but is always happy to help a friend; especially if that friend is her former mentor. Her contacts and keen intellect would greatly benefit the taskforce.

With his small team in place Jack Cooper arrived early to work on his second day of work as team leader. Already laying on his desk was an unmarked manila envelope. Jack dumped the contents of the envelope onto his desktop. The first scrap of paper that Jack found was a hand-written note that stated “Sorry about your transfer. If you need any help, you know how to contact me. A friend.” Jack assumed that this note was from the Yemeni Mossad agent Yasbi Bin Haiven (a PC) who was instrumental in taking down the Somali terror cell in Minneapolis. (episodes 2 and 3)



Continuing through the envelope Jack found a transcript of a high level Israeli discussion that proved that Israel was behind the recent assassination of the AQAP contact in Somalia, Mogadishu (episode 4) that resulted in the death of Delta Force operator Lawrence McHenry and with the loss of the missing missiles. Lastly in the envelope there was photographic evidence that the AQAP contact that had been shot was in fact deceased.



Jack immediately called his superiors and told them that he would need the assistance of Yasabi and told them to get the Israeli’s to loan him to Jack for the duration of their search. Jack told his bosses that if the Israeli’s hesitated that they should remind them that there were responsible for the death of an American Delta operator.

Simultaneously, Sarah Walker contacted her ex-boyfriend Bryce Lakin who works for the D.I.A. Bryce told Sarah that the leader of the Lopez Cartel goes by the name Juan; however, it is believed that it is an alias. The man known as Juan Lopez is essentially an unknown with no record in any of the fourteen American intelligence agencies. Bryce also told Sarah that the Lopez Cartel is violent when provoked, but is much more intelligent and practical than the typical drug cartels.

With too few pieces of the puzzle to follow Lucy Castillo then contacted a criminal informant of hers. Her contact, Dawson Fargo, was a small time drug dealer that Lucy had flipped a few years back during an anti-drug interdiction operation.

Dawson informed Lucy that the word on the street was that the Lopez Cartel was getting ready to make a run to become the top drug-selling Colombian Cartel. Dawson also stated that he had heard rumors that the Lopez Cartel had the unofficial backing and financial support of high-ranking Venezuelan politicians; specifically the Interior Minister, and that the Venezuelans were going to try to use the Lopez Cartel to help destabilize its rival Colombia. Lastly, Dawson mentioned that there are rumors that the Deputy Interior Minister of Venezuela, Jorge Martinez, has knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing missiles and that he may want to defect.



Using the leads gleaned from their contacts, the group set off for Venezuela in an attempt to stop the possible sale of the missiles in question. The first stop was at the American embassy where the taskforce met with the C.I.A. station chief who cautioned the group about the American ambassadors disdain for non-diplomatic actions. Jack Cooper assured the station chief that the taskforce would only be in country a few days and just needed to borrow some equipment; the MP5s, Mossberg shotgun, and silenced Beretta’s they requested were purely defensive in nature.

Yasabi made contact with Deputy Interior Minister Martinez and setup a meeting with him under the guise of discussing possible off-shore oil drilling. The two arranged a lunch meeting for the next day and the group began making preparations for the operation ahead.

The next day Yasabi, posing as a North African representative of the French oil giant Total, took his “secretary” Sarah Walker to a steakhouse where they met with Deputy Interior Minister Martinez. The two exchanged pleasantries and as the interaction continued Yasabi hinted to Martinez that he was not exactly who he claimed to be. When Martinez finally began to understand that he was being solicited he quickly told Yasabi and Sarah that he felt ill and that they should meet again. Before Martinez showed them to the door he also mentioned that he loved to take walks after eating lunch at the park next to the Interior Ministries office building.

The next day Yasabi waited for Jorge Martinez in the park. When the two made eye contact Martinez made gestures that he was being followed. In response Yasabi simply entered a large bathroom in the park and waited for Martinez to enter. When Jorge entered the bathroom Yasabi closed and locked the door and propositioned Jorge. Yasabi told him that he was willing to offer Jorge two million dollars and citizenship to any Western nation that he wanted in exchange for the location of the missiles. (This offer was made without any authorization or approval) After Jorge overcame his suspicions he agreed to provide the information that Yasabi was seeking when his wife and two sons were out of Venezuela.



When Yasabi met back up with the rest of the taskforce he told them all that Jorge had said. It was there that the taskforce’s leader Jack Cooper came up with a plan: “capture” the family as if they were kidnappers / angry cartel members and whisk the entire family to the American embassy where they would hold them until Jorge Martinez told them everything that they wanted to know.

The team got a hold of Mrs. Martinez via a local payphone and instructed her to keep the family estates’ alarm system deactivated after 10:00 p.m. that night and to be ready to leave the country without alerting the government bodyguard that they were forced to live with.

The team drove around the Martinez family estate for hours awaiting the arrival of Jorge from work but he never came home. Numerous attempts to contact him via his work phone went unanswered. At 3:00 a.m. local time Jack Cooper made the decision to take the three other Martinez’s out of the home and they would worry about finding Jorge later.



Yasabi drove the stolen plumbing van up to the entrance of the guard shack while Jack Cooper hopped out of the passenger side with his Mossberg tactical shotgun at the ready. The elderly rent-a-cop in the ramshackle guardhouse immediately threw his hands in the air. The old man unlocked the door and received a shotgun-butt to his face for his trouble. The old man dropped to the ground with a severe concussion.

Jack quickly opened the wrought-iron gate to the mansion and Yasabi drove the van with the two female taskforce members to the backdoor of the house. Jack met up with the two women and they quickly went into the back of the house. They were greeted with the sleeping body of the government issued bodyguard fast asleep in a lounge chair. Without hesitation Jack fired three silenced rounds into the back of the guard’s head and the now corpse slumped even further down into the chair.



Moments later Mrs. Martinez came down the mansion’s stairs with his young sons in hand. Lucy ushered the three frightened Venezuelans into the back of the awaiting van and the team sped away back towards the American Embassy.

When the group was getting close to the embassy Jack called the C.I.A. station chief and told him that he was coming in and that he had brought “guests”. When they arrived the station chief threw a fit over what Jack and his crew had just done. Jack calmed the man down and told him that he was going to keep the Martinez’s around for less than a day and that they would be out of his hair soon. Perturbed but helpful, the station chief found a inconspicuous room for the scared Martinez’s to stay for the night and then retired back to bed.



The team was awakened at exactly 6:07 a.m. from small arms fire hitting the red granite exterior of the embassy. When the taskforce finally found the station chief he told them that there were thousands of angry locals outside the embassy gates and random members of the crowd were taking potshots at the building. The station chief’s phone call was interrupted by an incoherent and screaming ambassador who came into the room waving a (presumably loaded) handgun.

Jack cooper acted quickly and called his boss to secure transportation out of the country immediately. After bluffing that they were in possession of a contact who knew the location of the missiles the bureaucrat acquiesced and was able to divert a local C.I.A. operated helicopter to come to the embassy and extract both the team and the three Martinez family members. Unfortunately, the team’s troubles were only beginning…

Friday, June 4, 2010

Terror Network Episode 4

Episode 4: To Hell (aka Somalia) and Back

May 5th, 2010

Episode 4 began with a briefing and update from Delta Force’s Colonel Thomas J Masters. He instructed his Delta team that they would be traveling to Mogadishu to run surveillance and possibly disrupt an anti-ship missile sale between members of Al-Shabbab, their local Somali pirate contacts, and members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Masters also passed around copies of the recently discovered AQ torture manual as a reminder about the consequences of allowing a teammate to fall into the hands of terrorists…

Eighteen hours later both teams loaded into the bed of their local contacts rusty-1980s Toyota truck and attempted to stifle their urge to vomit as they jostled towards the small trash-strewn hill near the target house.

At the hill the team was instructed by their “other agency” contacts that the team would simply need to use their two-way walkie-talkie to call for extraction after completion of their mission, however, the team was alarmed when they were informed that their extraction had to happen before nightfall; otherwise they were “On their own.” As the truck sped away Lee checked his watch and it displayed that the time was 3:26 p.m.





The Delta operators then split into two groups with the first group comprising of Lawrence McHenry (a PC) dressed as a woman wearing a body-covering burqua, and Master Sergeant Jerry, an African-American (NPC) dressed in local garb. The second group was made up of Lieutenant Lee (a PC) who was posing as a photojournalist and Trey Nation, (a PC) who was acting as Lee’s cameraman who carried a leather satchel that contained an H&K G36C and grenades, should the group need them.

After the rusty truck drove-off, McHenry and Jerry set-off to the building across the street from the target house and Nation and Lee went towards a decrepit shanty also across the street from the target. McHenry and Jerry found their ex-hardware store unoccupied and broke out their supplies: Jerry took out his rangefinder, handgun, and communications equipment while McHenry disrobed out of the burqua to reveal his SAW heavy machine-gun.

Lee and Nation came up behind their house and found that the entrance would make them visible to the RPG wielding gunner perched on top of the target building, so they took a shortcut and kicked in the rear of the structure. As Lee’s skinny frame went through the rear of the shack four children ran out the front door and screamed all the way down the street. While Lee was sure that all of the guards at the target house would investigate why the children left the shack screaming, luckily, they did not. After listening to their hearts thud in their chests for a couple of minutes, Nation and Lee also took out their supplies; Lee his silenced Beretta and Nation his H&K G36C.

Lawrence McHenry was the first to notice that there was a small ‘technical’ parked outside of the target building with a mounted 12.7mm DShK machine gun. However, the gunner, the driver, and the "hangers-on" were busy smoking qaat and were not paying too much attention to their surroundings.

After a quick comms-check, both groups readied themselves for their target.

Nearly thirty minutes later, a turbaned man came out of the target building and began to berate all of the doped-up guards. Men unslung their weapons and a few even spit out the qaat that they had been chewing. The teams assumed that this man and the guards were pirates as Al-Shabbab did not tolerate drug use. This theory was reinforced as six large men with Ak-74s wearing green uniforms came out of the target house and formed a third-world honor guard with their weapons at attention. “This must be the Al-Shabbab welcoming committee,” Lee informed his men over their headsets.




Moments later, a large truck drove down the street to the roadblock. Within seconds it was waved through and drove up to the target house. Lee thought to himself that their intelligence was on the money so far; for once…


An Arab man with a long scraggily brown beard exited the passenger side of the truck and two other Arab men hopped out of the bed of the truck. They were all carrying AKs and the lead Arab motioned for the truck to park behind the target building. The Arabs were greeted by the Al-Shabbab members in all black and the customary cheek touching ensued.

Lee radioed back to head quarters that they were viewing the introduction of what appeared to be AQAP personal with Al-Shabbab members. Lee asked for further instructions and was told to wait one. As the turck’s engine turned off there was a loud crack and the lead Arab collapsed on to the dusty street dead. Milliseconds later a second crack sounded and the RPG gunner on top of the target building dropped lifelessly to the roof.


All hell broke loose as pirates, Al-Shabbab troopers, and the remaining AQAP members fired randomly in all directions.

Bullets flew through the shack where Lee and Nation were and they prudently hit the ground. McHenry noticed the DShK gunner rack a round into his large weapon as the pirate swung its long barrel towards him. Without thinking, McHenry placed his SAW’s bipod onto a debris-ridden table and opened fire. The gunner never knew what blew him off the back of the truck and the driver cranked his technical into gear and drove down the street attempting to avoid incoming rounds. However, this was not to be, and as another crack rang out, the driver’s brains and skull were splattered onto the dash board and his crumpled body drove the technical straight into the roadblock.


At this time a large number of people began swarming into the streets from all directions wielding weapons and firing indiscriminately into buildings.

As Lawrence McHenry lay back against the table he was using for cover he noticed that a group of three men ran into a market building on the western side of the street and that as soon as they entered he heard a quick staccato of firing. Seconds later only one of the three men who entered stumbled out of the building bloody for bullet wounds and was struck twice more in the chest and face-planted onto the street.

A group of guards who were stationed at the roadblock by the now sedentary technical rushed up to the same building and stormed in. Again McHenry heard a large exchange of gunfire but this time he saw a someone leap out of a third story window onto the roof of the building behind it. As McHenry tried to understand what he was seeing, the group of Somali men who had just stormed in the building came out with a bloodied and beaten dark-skinned (but not black) man between them. The Somali’s drug the captured man to the house behind McHenry and Jerry; Jerry followed the men with his gun and asked McHenry what to do. Lawrence didn’t answer because he had no idea what to say.

Lee and Nation could not see the action with the snipers but were uninterested since they had problems of their own. After the initial shots had been exchanged and the lead Arab lay dead, the Al-Shabbab members began to run towards the house where Lee and Nation were holed up.

Nation handed Lee his G36 and tossed a fragmentation grenade into the mass of black-robed Al-Shabbab members. The grenade went off with a loud bang and when Lee peered out of the makeshift window with the G36 ready to fire he saw the damage that the grenade had caused. All six of the Al-Shabbab members were down and Lee did not see any movement from them.

He instead engaged one of the Arab men who was taking cover behind some sandbags near the entrance to the target house. The two men exchanged fire as Trey Nation took the silenced pistol and went out of the back of the shack to make sure that they were not being flanked. Nation leaned against a disgusting smelling dumpster and awaited targets of opportunity with his new silenced handgun.

Finally, Lee dropped the Arab attacker with a 5.56 round to his skull and called on his walkie-talkie for their contact to come and extract them. They were told in no uncertain terms that they were on their own from now on as apparently the entire city of Mogadishu was now a war-zone. Their “other agency” contacts even informed them that they had seen African Union tanks and other heavy armor engaging targets and moving in their direction. Then, there was no response from the contacts via the walkie-talkie…


Lee then used his head-set and in between firing at Somali targets told McHenry to raise headquarters and to get them a secondary extraction plan as soon as possible. McHenry radioed in to their superiors and were told that AF-Command could scramble some Black Hawks but that they would be at least twenty to thirty minutes out. McHenry was also informed that the group would somehow have to find an extraction point that wasn’t full of angry hostiles.

While McHenry was informing Lee of what headquarters had told him, Jerry informed him that there was a Caucasian across the street and was motioning that he was going to come to them. Lawrence McHenry couldn’t believe his ears but as he looked out his window a white man with an unshaved face, a Dragunov sniper rifle slung over his shoulder and a .45 Barak pistol in his hands, ran through the streets full of angry and armed Somalis towards them. The man was almost shot by a Somali who was running by but Jerry dropped the hostile with a shot to the man’s throat. The unknown runner burst through the door just as AK rounds sprayed against the outside of the hardware store and McHenry raised his weapon up and dropped three more hostiles who were firing in their direction. Jerry slammed the door on its broken hinges closed and Lawrence pointed his SAW at the mystery man and asked him who the hell he was. The man said that his name was Yasabi (a PC from the first three missions who is now an NPC); he works for Mossad, and had been attached to an F.B.I. team who had recently taken down a Somali terror cell in Minneapolis. (He is referencing the first three missions in the campaign) Yasabi told the men that he and his partner were tasked with ensuring that there was not an exchange with AQAP today and that his spotter had been captured. He asked if the two American Delta Force operators would help him get his man back in exchange for a ride out of town courtesy of some African Union tanks.



McHenry and Jerry were incredulous but the story was so insane that they felt that it had to be true. Also, they needed that ride out of Dodge. McHenry radioed Lee who was still dropping Somalis at the target house and told them of their new plan. Lee grunted his approval and continued firing. Trey Nation, who was crouched next to the dumpster behind Lee, saw a group of Somalis approaching the group from their rear near the trash hill. He controlled his breathing and shot the first target square in the chest. As the man fell from sight Trey began to worry for the first time that day that they may not make it out alive.

In the ex-hardware store, Jerry had decided that he and Yasabi would go and try to rescue the spotter while McHenry provided covering fire with his SAW. The two men exited the building though a broken window on the northern side of the house, crawled underneath a trash truck that probably had not been used in over a decade, and stood outside of the opening of the house that contained the captured Israeli. Jerry could see that there were three men in the room with the captured spotter and that one man was wearing a black armband. Jerry assumed that this meant that the man was a member of Al-Shabbab. The Al-Shabbab man forcing a metal prod into the shoulder wound of the Israeli captive; that is when Jerry struck.



Jerry went into the aging structure and put a bullet into the head of the sadist Al-Shabbab member while Yasabi put two rounds into the chest of the nearest man. As Jerry advanced on the remaining Somali the man grabbed a bloody piece of metal that had been used on the spotter. Jerry quickly reached the Somali and struggled with the would-be assailant until the Somali managed to stick the rusty metal into Jerry’s right arm. As Jerry stumbled back from the penetrating blow, Yasabi put three shots into the Somali’s torso and chest.

Back in the ex-hardware store, Lawrence McHenry was also beginning to worry. He had shot a half-dozen armed Somalis who had gotten too close, but as he reloaded the SAW with his last box magazine, he too began to wonder if they would make it out alive. He chambered a round, popped up, and plugged a Somali who was literally inches away from him in the southern window.

Seconds later, hearing onrushing sounds, Lawrence McHenry turned towards the broken door just as it was kicked in. A toothless Somali wearing only cut-off shorts, sandals, a doped-up frown, and wielding an AK-47 came in the room. McHenry held in the trigger of his weapon while aiming at the man but nothing happened. As the Somali’s face turned from a sinister frown to a sinister smirk, the man raised his weapon to fire. Instinctively, McHenry threw the SAW directly into the man’s face and pounced on top of the man. McHenry thumbed in the man’s right eye as he pummeled him with blows to his face and throat. As Lawrence McHenry began to feel the Somali’s life drain away from him another Somali stuck his weapon in the southern window of the hardware store and let loose an entire magazine from his AK. Lawrence McHenry collapsed on top of the Somali with six wounds to his chest and with two to his cranium. Lawrence McHenry never even saw the man who killed him.

As Lawrence McHenry lay lifeless on a Somali hardware store floor, the rumble of approaching African Union tanks could be felt by Trey Nation. Even though he was engaging targets with his handgun, he felt that something was wrong and asked Lawrence to check in. After asking several times, Lee interrupted by ordering Lawrence to give a sit-rep. None was forthcoming and Lee told Trey that he was coming out the back of the house to assess the situation.

As Lee came out the back of the shanty, Jerry, Yasabi and his battered but breathing spotter found the corpse of Lawrence McHenry with a Somali looting his effects. Jerry closed the distance between them, emptied his handgun into the man’s back, and immediately checked for any signs of life from his beloved comrade. There were none.

Jerry informed Trey and Lee about McHenry’s demise. Lee ordered Jerry to gather together McHenry’s corpse, weapon, and personal effects and to meet up with him.

While Jerry followed his unwelcome orders, Trey and Lee began concentrating fire on the Somali’s near the trash hill where Lee believed they should meet up with the African Union troops. Using the cover that was available and using their new-found sense of anger, the two Delta operators pushed back any signs of resistance and made their way methodically towards the hill. Bodies dotted the area all around the trash-strewn area; most of them with a single hole in their heads.

When the two operators reached the trash hill Lee radioed Jerry that he and his Israeli friends should carefully relocate back to trash hill where the mission essentially began. All of the operators were running low on ammunition and were now all carrying discarded Somali AKs. Moments later, Jerry and his Israelis met up with Lee and Trey. Jerry’s anguish was plastered on his face and Lee had no words to console him with.



The five of them were perched in a tight circle with AK barrels pointed in all directions like a hedgehog. Yasabi thanked them all for assisting him and his partner and asked if he could borrow their communications to try to get a hold of the African Union troops. Lee simply handed the man his headset and Yasabi chatted with his contacts to let them know where they were and that they should expect to make space for two more bodies.


With trash circling around them and with small-arms fire dying down around them, Trey spotted the snouts of the African Union tanks and APCs coming down the road towards them. Yasabi cautiously got on his knees and waved his arms frantically to get their attention while the rest of the group scanned for any signs of trouble. There was no trouble to be had and ten minutes later the three living Delta operators, the one Delta corpse, and two Israelis were tucked safely away inside of an aging M113 armored personal vehicle heading for the African Union’s base. Lee informed his superiors that he was en route to base with three Delta operators and one corpse. The voice on the other end of the line simply said, “Affirmative. One KIA. We’ll see you back at base. Over and out.”



That was the last time that Lawrence McHenry was ever mentioned over a communications net ever again. And for what?

Terror Network Episode 3

Episode 3: The Conclusion

March 31, 2010 20:52

Episode 3 again began with an introduction from our local FOX NEWS affiliate that gave information about the shootout at the Hardware Store that “rocked the nation”.

At the beginning of the episode Lev "The Bear" was taken by police and he called Jack for assistance as a reimbursement for his earlier lead about Habib the Chechen drug dealer. Jack simply ignored his pleas and was then reamed out by his boss Deputy Director Pistole for not utilizing local law enforcement in his investigation.



Deputy Director Pistole of the F.B.I.

The group then found out information that led them to believe that their undercover Nadif was to be the second driver in the terror attack; which lead them to begin searching for the other driver. The group quickly find out from differing sources that one driver, Yousef, is going to be a decoy, and that the driver of the real attack is nowhere to be found.

Following this was the investigation of Nadiyah Rahman, the bank teller who was the only contact between Imam Mahammad Kahalil and the local bank. After her door was kicked in she claimed that she was forced to assist the Imam and his cronies and that on three separate occasions her baby had been kidnapped and was not returned back to her until she had agreed to continue helping the Islamists. After being threatened with jail time and with the possibility of being separated again from her baby because of Jack’s threats, Nadiyah became hysterical and fought against Jack when he attempted to take the baby out of her hands. After a brief scuffle the baby was dropped to the ground and Nadiyah was taken out of the house in handcuffs screaming at her neighbors that armed men are trying to kill her and that the police had murdered her baby.



On their way back to the station a large plume of smoke was seen in the distance and the group was informed from their dispatcher that when a team was about to enter the Mosque, on their orders, that Imam Mahammad Kahalil detonated an explosive that destroyed almost an entire city block, including the Mosque and all of the evidence that the team had hoped to recover from there.



When the group got back to the station, Deputy Director Pistole relieved Jack of command and instructed him to take no further part of the case. Lucy was promoted to command the group and grudgingly told Assistant Police Chief Al-Malik about the upcoming Mall of America attack. Al-Malik flipped out and threatened to ignore Lucy and her crew until the operation is over.

After being verbally assaulted by Al-Malik, Lucy set up a meet with the undercover operator Nadif. The group (with Jack incognito) went to meet with Nadif’s while he was driving his 18-wheeler truck in a crappy part of town. However, whenever the team arrived at the meeting place the truck appeared to be abandoned.

Yasabi decided to investigate the truck and when he got up the truck he saw what looked like Nadif’s body laying dead on the seat of the truck with the glass of the window shattered.



Instead of entering the vehicle, Yasabi turned around to call Jack up for assistance with the truck, when he was shot in the upper shoulder from afar. Yasabi rolled under the truck as Lucy exited the car, grabbed her sniper rifle out of the truck, and sought cover in a concrete restroom in the park. As Lucy scanned for the hidden sniper Jack drove the car up to the 18-wheeler and Yasabi jumped in.

Using her sniper training from the military, Lucy took aim at a reflection on a rooftop roughly 500 yards away and squeezed her trigger. After exchanging three rounds with the sniper, the reflection did not reappear and the team cautiously drove up to the building and entered carefully.

Lucy went up the stairs first to inspect her kill and on the roof of the building she found an off-duty S.W.A.T. officer with a sniper rifle lying next to his corpse. The group begins to feel even stronger that someone high-up in the law enforcement food chain is assisting the terrorists and was actively working against them.



When the police arrive at the 18-wheeler they disarm three bobby traps and proclaim that Nadif was indeed the dead man laid out in the truck.

With few leads remaining, the team went to the Crescent Moon Bakery, which was only a few block from the recently destroyed Mosque. The Crescent Moon Bakery was the former employer of Jalal Turk, the man who was first captured and it was also supposed to be where Nadif was to receive his final instructions. With nothing to lose and with time running out, Lucy entered the bakery from a rear entrance and Yasabi entered the store from the front.



In a back storage room, Lucy rummaged around, found some incriminating evidence, but unfortunately she found nothing solid. Nothing that is, until a cell-phone vibrated in a desk drawer. Unable to muster enough courage to answer the phone, Lucy waited until the phone stopped ringing, she waited for the vibration alert that a message had been left and then she flipped-open the phone. Lucy was shocked when she heard the enraged voice of Assistant Police Chief Al-Malik chastising whom he thought was the second truck driver wondering where he was and stating that he had altered his troops’ locations so that the attack could proceed as planned.

With the incriminating evidence in hand, Lucy snuck back to her car only to find that Yasabi had a handcuffed Somali in the backseat of their car whom he explained was their mysterious second driver: Ishan Yousef.



Lucy called Deputy Director Pistole of their find and he shocked them by telling them that he was not surprised. Pistole told the team that the F.B.I. had been watching Al-Malik for the last four years in regards to terrorism but never had enough evidence to prosecute. Pistole then told the team that they had done a great job and that the F.B.I. already had Al-Malik in custody and that the threat from him was over.

Pistole then informed the team that Lucy would keep her promotion as head of the Minnesota F.B.I., Yasabi would be returned back to the Mossad with a huge monetary thank you to the Israeli government, and that Jack was going to be sued by Nadiyah Rahman for the wrongful death of her son and would be placed on indefinite leave . Pistole reassured Jack that he would do everything in his power to help him but noted that there was a chance that Jack could spend some time in jail.

However, there was no word about the missiles that our Delta Force team heard about just a few weeks ago. Perhaps the higher-up will allow Delta Force to intercept them before they can be put into use against America, her allies, or her interests…

Terror Network Episode 2

Episode 2: Disassembling the Networks

March 02, 2010 14:39

Episode 2 began with an introduction from our local FOX affiliate that gave a brief overview of the present state of the War on Terror at both home and abroad.

At the beginning of the episode he Minneapolis branch of the F.B.I. was contacted by a young Somali-American (Nadif) who says he had an interest in joining the Bureau. The taskforce put him forth as a "willing" recruit to the Imam Mahammad Kahalil who is believed to have knowledge of the missing Somali boys and possible links to homegrown terrorists. After the initial introductions were made the Imam asked Yasabi (a PC who is on loan to the F.B.I. from the Mossad) to "procure" a large truck for an upcoming operation.



Imam Mahammad Kahalil of the Crescent Moon Mosque of Minneapolis

Later that day Jack Cooper (a PC) received a message that he had a visitor at the F.B.I. headquarters and that the contact had information regarding the ongoing case against the Somali cell. When Jack went back to headquarters he found Lev "The Bear" waiting for him – a Russian mobster whom Jack has worked with in the past.



Lev "the Bear" Russian Mafya Member

Lev told Jack that there was/is a Chechen drug dealer (Habib) on the streets whom Lev believes is involved with the cell that Jack is chasing. In return for this information Lev asked Jack for a "future favor". Jack agreed.



Habib the Chechen Drug Dealer

The team (Yasabi, Jack, and Lucy) then tracked down Habib, both threatening him to turn over information about the Somali cell and to go to work for the taskforce. This was done by Jack holding an unloaded weapon into the mouth of Habib in an abandoned warehouse. After Habib conceded to these "requests" the local police arrived (Lt. Kowalski) was first on the scene.



Lt. Kowalski

After stonewalling Kowalski, his superior, Deputy Police Chief Ali arrived on the scene and had a heated exchange with Jack about "future cooperation". Ali was insulted by both Jack and Lucy. Ali insisted that he would help if he knew what was going on but no-one in the group gave him any relevant information about the case.



Deputy Police Chief Ali

The group then sent Habib undercover in the Mosque to meet with the Imam. Habib found out information that led to the group’s realization that the Imam was/is being contacted by someone above him (via beeper) and that they communicate by writing draft emails but never sending them. Also, the group found out that the target of the attack is going to be on the next Saturday afternoon at 12:00 in the Mall of America. There is going to be a huge interfaith ceremony between a bishop in the Greek Orthodox Church and an Orthodox Rabbi from Israel and that somehow the Imam and his group is going to attack it.



The group then found out that the Imam only has transactions with one specific teller who also happens to be Somali. The group bugged her home and found out that she was going to have a late-night meeting with a local hardware store owner, who was also under suspicion of being a terrorist, about facilitating the purchase of explosives for a terror attack. The group tapped her phones but did not intercept her during their meeting.

The next morning the group found out that just a few minutes ago Lt. Kowalski had been driving by the hardware store on a "routine inspection" and was shot at by armed persons inside of the store. He was not injured, called for backup, and a stand-off ensued. S.W.A.T. was sent to the scene of the crime and when they stormed the building, the owner and his two sons (who were armed and actively fighting the police) were killed and the owner’s daughter (who was being used as a human shield) was also killed.



Moments after the standoff was ended by the S.W.A.T. team Jack received a message that Habib, their Chechen contact had been found murdered in an alleyway that morning in an "apparent Mafya-style execution".

Terror Network Episode 1

Episode 1: The Terror Begins

February 16, 2010 22:55

Episode 1 began with an introduction from our local FOX NEWS affiliate that gave a brief overview of the present state of the War on Terror.

Then from there the action went to the briefing room where Col. Thomas J Masters informed the team of their first mission: Swoop down out of the sky in a Little Bird helicopter, disembark, find Wali-ur-Rehman Meshud, eliminate or capture him, eliminate or capture any other High Value Targets, (HVTs) eliminate any hostile presences in the area, and recover any valuable intelligence about local / international terror networks.



When the Little Bird landed the 5 man group split into 2 separate two-man assault teams with Lawrence McHenry (a PC) providing cover with his SAW.



One guard was visible immediately in front of one of the two target buildings and was dropped before he had a chance to react by the SAW of Lawrence McHenry. As Trey Nation (a PC) and Lee (a PC) ran towards one of the target buildings a wild-eyed man exited the target building and fired in the general direction of the assault team. Fortunately no-one was hit by his imprecise aim and Trey and Lee were on him within a matter of seconds and Trey silenced him with a three-round burst to his cranium.

While this assault was taking place Sgts. Thomas (an NPC) and Jerry (an NPC) were exchanging fire with two other men who had exited the second target building. The two men were spraying their AKs wildly at the intermittent muzzle flashes but with no success. Within minutes, both of the fanatical suspects had been dropped from shots to their heads.



Back at the first target building, Lee threw a flash bang into the building and immediately rushed in. Inside the room was a dazed and immobile hostile that Lee instantly subdued and restrained. A further search of the room would lead to the capture of a laptop that would later turn up some interesting information.



Silence filled the area, and Lawrence began working his way over to where Sgts. Thomas and Jerry were securing the second target building. As Lawrence approached the building he began to hear someone crying out for assistance in a heavily accented voice. After a thorough search of the area, a trapdoor was found under a Persian rug and revealed a small chamber in the basement that held rusty farming tools and a captive French journalist.

After questioning the French journalist it was established that he was one of two journalists who were recently captured by Taliban and that in the last safe house that he was at he saw a meeting between African Islamists and the Taliban. He also mentioned that the he kept hearing the word "missile" in the conversation.

While the journalist was being questioned Lee was interrogating his restrained suspect and found out that the man was a local claimed that he grabbed his weapon only because he heard shooting outside of his compound. He claimed innocence about not being a member of the Taliban and says that he has never even seen Wali-ur Meshud. Nonetheless, the man was put aboard the exfilltration chopper and was taken back to the base with the rest of the team as a large formation of Taliban troops were beginning to ascend the hilltop from the town below.