Session 16: Reactor No. 2
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Shadowrun
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Chapter 2 |
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Chapter 1 |
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F.A.T.E. PCs |
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Briefing
J.P. Redman flew the helicopter away from the nuclear facility and out of range of their security force's assault rifles. Doc climbed up the rope and boarded the helicopter as Oni reloaded the assault rifle. J.P. detached his safety belts and switched the helicopter to autopilot, then climbed into the back with the others. Doc, his feet dangling off the edge, was fumbling with a first aid kit to treat his injured arm. J.P. reached for a piece of armor and began to suit up. Doc looked up at him, not quite sure what he was doing. J.P. spoke to the two agents with communications open to the rest of the team. He yelled over the sound of the helicopter's rotors.
"Listen up, we're not done yet," he said. Oni's expression was unchanged but Doc was visibly annoyed as he came to the realization that they were going back in for Dr. Yau. This wasn't the first time Yau had been a hindrance in the field. It seemed like it was just bad luck to leave him alone. Had Eric stuck with him, things might have turned out differently. But there was no time to debate what could have been.
"We're going back in for Dr. Yau," he said, addressing Oni and Doc but still broadcasting for the others to hear. "Without him, there is no F.A.T.E... Without his expertise, we have no way of combating the cutting edge technological and thaumaturgical threats this world faces." Of course, these were threats that Yau's research was partially responsible for creating. Once he realized the potential for misuse, he hid much of the research and distanced himself from the corporations he was working for. Shiawase's mana bombs were just one example of his work applied in a harmful ways. J.P. was implying there were others.
"Hector, fly the copter back to Drakes Bay. Stay above 3,000 feet and we'll jump. Then hide the helicopter somewhere in CFS territory. I estimate we have about 15 minutes before Shiawase's Air Force arrives from their nearest aircraft carrier. And you may want to hide yourself and the boat, too, but stay nearby in case we need you. Dmitri, get in touch with CIA and have them ready at the Drakes Bay border to extract us if necessary. At the very least we may need their help escaping. Also, restore grid power to Drakes Bay. The reactors have been overheating long enough to be unusable in the future. Let's hope Shiawase's engineers can get their cooling systems running soon. We almost did too good a job."
"Oh, and Dmitri," he paused, cutting the transmission to the rest of the team and turning away from Oni and Doc for a moment, "Change all admin-level passcodes to F.A.T.E. nodes and disable Yau's accounts. Even the nodes you don't know about; I'm sending you their addresses. Congratulations kid, your security clearance just got a few levels higher." Doc heard this anyway with his enhanced hearing.
J.P. switched back to addressing the whole team, "Ana, the CIA has a small field office in Novato, 20 miles east of your current location. See what they can offer as far as decontamination goes. Remain on standby in case we need you. Eric, we may need your help astrally. And if anything happens to me, you're in charge."
The helicopter began moving forward as Hector took over the controls. Everyone had their assignments. It was time to save Dr. Yau, and F.A.T.E.
Session Synopsis
Hector drove the helicopter over the facility as requested and J.P., Oni, and Doc parachuted from it. J.P. and Oni landed on the roof as planned, but Doc landed in the courtyard. With the help of Oni they were able to hoist him back onto the roof just as several security guards stormed it. The group was able to take them down with ease. J.P. noticed the HVAC fans weren't running and confirmed with Dmitri that he had indeed turned the power back on. They entered the building.
They took the stairs down to the first basement level, opening the door and immediately engaging in a firefight with three more security guards who were guarding it. After some precise shooting, they killed the opposing guards and made their way through the hallways toward the second basement level, the fallout shelter. They ran into two more guards at another intersection and took care of them as well.
J.P. and Doc searched the large maintenance room and found 10 engineers cowering in fear. They allowed the engineers to continue their work restoring the water filtration systems. The trio proceeded to further underground to the bunker where their hostages were most likely being kept. They surprised two guards who they immediately took down. They then entered the control room in the bunker, where more engineers were frantically at work.
Doc intimidated their supervisor to divulge information about the large room where most of the non-essential personnel were taking shelter. They learned that Dr. Yau and the other inspectors were being held hostage in that room. A controller warned the security inside that room that the infiltrators were heading that way. Doc slammed that man's head into the console, knocking him unconscious.
Meanwhile, Dmitri requested that Wex, Ana, and Eric attempt to restore power to Drakes Bay. The transformers at a nearby power distribution facility were damaged from the earthquake. The radioactive trio were already heading to Novato, and the power station was along their route. They stopped and broke into the station. Wex, having the most general Engineering knowledge, examined the situation and came up with a plan to fix it. It involved manually re-cabling the high-voltage lines around the damaged components. Ana drew the short straw and was forced to climb the high voltage equipment to reach the areas where the connections needed to be made. Eric and Wex told Ana how to make the connections, and trusting her fellow agents she did so. Unfortunately, Wex got it wrong the first time, and they had to start over. The second time, they only managed to get a fraction of the power output that was necessary. But some power was being routed to Drakes Bay. They hoped it was enough.
Back at the fallout shelter, Oni cracked open the door and through a well placed gas grenade into the room. A firefight ensued between them and 5 security officers. The officers tried to keep the main doors open, but Oni was too strong for them and eventually closed both doors. As he held them shut, the security officers unloaded their clips on the doors, blowing a large hole and forcing the trio to fight. But it was too late, the gas grenade was beginning to take effect. The security guards were gunned down, and the gas grenade knocked most of the other people in the room unconscious.
J.P. issued a final warning to any left in the room -- to turn over the hostages unharmed or be killed. Special Agent Wu was hiding in the pile of crates near the hostages, unwilling to turn them over and threatening to kill them. The negotiations didn't last long; J.P. began to sneak into the room in an attempt to end the standoff. Wu was more stealthy, launching a surprise attack against J.P. She came down from the crates, her Katana slicing through the air and across the medium military armor that J.P. was wearing. She pierced the armor and gave the F.A.T.E. leader a deep gash. It was then that Oni and Doc stormed into the room. The three overwhelmed her, and despite her exemplary combat skills she could not defend herself from all three. Oni got the final blow, tossing her body around like a rag doll as he mauled her with his spurs.
As they collected the hostages, the bunker shook violently. When they reached the surface Hector updated them on the situation. Eric, Ana, and Wex were unable to restore sufficient grid power to the facility. Reactor 2 reached a critical threshold and a large explosion erupted from a breach in the containment dome.
The group was able to escape without any further complications, but plenty of damage had been done. The nuclear meltdown was sure to have more of an impact on the surrounding area than they had anticipated. But J.P. Redman was content with the results. Fallout cleanup technologies had come a long way, and this was something that would have an adverse effect on a small part of the environment. Setting Shiawase back in their research by years was a much greater net gain in his mind; narrowly averting F.A.T.E.'s demise with a successful rescue mission was also encouraging.
Aftermath
March 21, 2073
SAN FRANCISCO, CFS — An explosion at a Shiawase nuclear plant triggered fears of a meltdown after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Point Reyes seashore at 12:30pm local time Monday. The quake lasted approximately 6 minutes, according to the California Geological Survey.
As workers doused the stricken reactor with sea water and anti-rad nanites to try to avert catastrophe, the plant operator Tuesday said both primary and backup power and cooling systems failed for all three reactors at the quake-hit facility.
Even as Shiawase struggled to assess the full extent of the devastation, the California Free State faced a growing atomic emergency and residents in the area were ordered to evacuate. Fears are mounting that radioactive plumes could blow east toward Sacramento and the fertile central valley, contaminating the food chain. Stocks of California agricultural companies dropped sharpy in morning trading.
Smoke billowed from the Drakes Bay No. 2 reactor about 68 kilometres (42 miles) northwest of San Francisco, after an explosion Monday blew off the roof and walls of the structure around the reactor.
Radiation leaked from the plant, but both Shiawase and California Free State moved to calm fears of a meltdown, saying that the blast did not rupture the container surrounding the reactor and that radiation levels had fallen afterwards.
Teams were working to prevent cooling liquid from evaporating and exposing the fuel rods to the air, which could trigger a major radiation leak. The cooling systems failed after primary and back-up electricity generators were disabled by the earthquake.
The California Nuclear Regulatory Commission (CNRC) coincidentally had inspectors on-site for a scheduled inspection of the No. 1 reactor when the earthquake struck.
Questions are being raised as to why such a small earthquake could cause so much damage at a nuclear facility, especially one built on such a seismically active area. The Drakes Bay plant is only four miles away from the San Andreas fault line.
CFS President Charles Ellison has expressed condolences to those injured by the quake and its aftermath and says the CFS government and Shiawase will continue to be transparent in sharing information about the situation at the plant.
March 24, 2073
SAN FRANCISCO, CFS — The CEO of Shiawase's California Free State division has been fired. Manami Coltrane, the young, controversial executive and daughter of senior Shiawase executive Nigel Coltrane, was handed her fate by Shiawase's board of directors this morning after an executive meeting in Osaka concluded.
No reason was given for Coltrane's dismissal, but the timing suggests that the ongoing crisis at the Drakes Bay nuclear plant was a contributing factor. Coltrane was a key member of Shiawase's nuclear research committee.
She is expected to retain Shiawase citizenship as an executive family member but she has made no public statements to suggest any future role she might hold in the company.
Shiawase Atomics has taken intense criticism for their lax safety standards following Monday's earthquake that crippled all three reactors at the Drakes Bay nuclear plant and spread nuclear fallout around the region. Efforts are still underway to clean up the contamination.
Wednesday morning engineers reported a major step forward in the effort to control the overheating reactors. They announced that power and cooling systems were back up and running at the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors and that seawater was being pumped into the spent fuel pools and primary reactor.
"Barring another unexpected event, we have control of the situation," the plant's director said in a press conference this morning.
Hundreds of workers are being treated for radiation sickness following Monday's earthquake and explosion at reactor No. 2. The death toll remains at 15. Dr. Hideki Tonogawa, a well known physicist in his field, was among those killed.
Shiawase stock was up 3% on the news of Coltrane's dismissal and the improving situation at Drakes Bay.
Radiation Sickness & Treatment
Anastasia and Gideon suffered life threatening burns and severe nausea associated with radiation exposure from reactor No. 2. Eric, despite being exposed to the same levels of radiation, was 100% healthy. Doc treated himself at the medical facility after developing moderate skin rashes and experiencing headaches and nausea. Dr. Yau, J.P. Redman, and Oni only needed a small amount of treatment as they only suffered from mild symptoms. Hector, having a nanohive equipped with anti-rad nanites, was fine.
March 23 update: Anastasia and Gideon's condition improved to serious but stable. They remain at the medical facility for further treatment.
March 28 update: Doc's status improves to good.
March 30 update: Anastasia and Gideon's condition improved to fair, but they both still experience some discomfort (-1 penalty).
Results
Status: Complete
Dates: March 20, 2073
Quote of the night: "When you're done with her send her to the medical wing... her organs are still good." - Doc
Nuyen: None
Stipend: 1,000¥ Remaining
Karma Awarded: 7
Additional Awards:
- Doc and Oni receive +1 Street Cred for infiltrating a heavily guarded nuclear facility and rescuing Dr. Yau and the CNRC inspectors.