Session 23: Rift Closed, Another Opened

Briefing

It has been a rough week for F.A.T.E., particularly J.P. Redman.

The astral rift has grown, slowly but steadily, since it became a permanent fixture at Kent Lake. Dr. Yau and his team have been working tirelessly studying it, running experiments that the academic world had queued up for years. However, there have been an increasing number of reports of unusual spirit activity in the area. From ghosts haunting local residences, the appearance of toxic spirits in local dumps and sewage facilities, and unconfirmed cases of shedim spirits possessing the recently deceased.

Public awareness of the rift and it's impact to the surrounding area has grown, and with it a public relations war, particularly between the CFS government and the Japanacorps. Accusations of negligence thrown around left and right, the blame game between Shiawase and CFS was in high gear. Other AAA corporations were throwing their weight around as well, particularly MCT, Renraku, NeoNET, and Ares.

The public was losing confidence in the CFS government's ability to control the situation, and pressure quickly increased from congressional leaders as well as the office of the President for the government to reduce its role at the astral rift site and allow the corporations to step in and contain the situation. At least, that's how it was playing out in the media.

J.P. had managed to fight off the challenge from his government, but now even President Ellison has turned against F.A.T.E. Ellison ordered the elite agency to cease their research operations and remove themselves from the evacuation zone, ceding to pressure from corporations and the public.

J.P. knew where this was heading, but he wasn't sure how it was going to play out. The Ellison administration was going to be a problem sooner or later. F.A.T.E. was originally founded under former President Arthur Newman in 2069 under the expectation that he would be re-elected (at that time, Mr. Newman was extremely popular). Their contingency plan to deal with this has been going well, until now. Many corporations were now flexing their muscles within the government, now succeeding in pushing F.A.T.E. to the side.

J.P. was uncomfortable allowing corporations the kind of unrestricted access to the rift that they were about to receive. Dr. Yau's theories have some dangerous predictions, and J.P., along with many of F.A.T.E.'s financial backers, do not want to see those paths pursued irresponsibly.

F.A.T.E.'s operation at Drake's Bay came at a cost. They discovered some secrets of Shiawase's research, but with the recent events at Kent Lake, others have caught wind of the engineering techniques used by Shiawase. The ability to create astral rifts artificially/technologically would be a game changer, and everyone knew it. But could it be done safely? What are the environmental rammifications? How would it shift the balance of power? These questions are unanswered.

J.P. decided that if F.A.T.E. couldn't have the rift, then no one could.