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Aztechnology Threatens Lawsuit

Representatives from Aztlan and the Aztechnology Corporation today announced that they would pursue legal action against any media organization who continued to publicize rumors of a link between their organizations and several recent deaths in the city. At least twelve men of elven background have been found dead, all matching the description of a suspect wanted in connection with the alleged rape of the daughter of the Aztlan ambassador.

Corporate legal counsel, Gail Rodriguez, told reporters that Aztechnology “respects the laws and law enforcement officials of Seattle and United Canadian and Americans States.” She further stated that the government of Aztlan and the megacorporation have faith that justice will be served. She categorically denied rumors of extra-national activities by Aztechnology and stated that the deaths of the elven individuals are “tragedies that should receive as much legal attention as Ms. Bonilla’s assault.”

Auburn Blaze Sparks Fireworks

Seattle Fire Marshal investigators have determined that the cause of last week’s deadly blast in Auburn was the result of illegally stored ammunition and explosives. The fire and subsequent explosion damaged several buildings in a three block radius around Boris’ Vacuum Repairs, a locally owned business in the district. Investigator Derek Jones told reporters that the cause of the blaze was a malfunctioning ceramic space heater and took the opportunity to remind Seattle’s population of the dangers of unattended electrical heating appliances.

Lone Star has confirmed that they are investigating the presence illegal firearms and explosives in the shop. However, inside sources suggest that charges are unlikely following the death of the shop’s sole owner and proprietor during the blaze.

Colleton’s Polling Continues to Lag

The most recent Insta-Polls continue to show incumbent president Anne Colleton to be trailing her democratic opponent, Bartholomew Ogama. Virtually all sampling nodes from last week continued to place Colleton several percentage points behind Ogama in the race. The Democratic front runner downplayed the results, stating that ’there are still several weeks to go and anything can happen. We will continue to run a positive campaign and offer solutions and alternatives to the people of the UCAS."

Representatives from Colleton’s campaign stated that their candidate does not watch polling results and will continue to promote the president’s “impressively patriotic military and presidential record.”

The polling results are accurate to within 1.3 percentage points, 98% of the time.

Fashion House Rocked by Scandal

Shares in Vashon Industries took a nosedive yesterday afternoon with the arrest of Zafar Minesto, private secretary to Gino Vashon, on charges of embezzlement and insider trading. IFC investigators and Lone Star officers took the prominent employee into custody without incident, and he has been held without bail pending further investigation and hearings.

The Vashon family has expressed outrage at the allegations, and has vowed to provide Minesto with full legal representation. IFC officials have declined to comment on rumors that other members of the Vashon organization, including Gino Vashon himself, are under investigation.

Lone Star Criticism Continues to Grow

Critics of Lone Star Security Services’ recent decision to employ ex-metroplex guard officers in policing duties have continued to gain support. The drug-related violence that this plan was purportedly meant to stop has continued to grow on a weekly basis, while incidents of alleged excessive use of force by police officers have also skyrocketed. The topic has been central in the Hutt’s Inquiry during the past week, with ongoing testimony from several libertarian groups, including the Neoanarchist League.

Lone Star officials continue to point to several high profile successes in recent months, including the foiling of a Caribana bomb plot, as proof of the program’s success. They refused to disclose any details, but hinted that investigations are going well, and that a major announcement is expected shortly.

“Good morning, Ms. Hart”

Clarisse sighed inside and closed the AR display as Dr. Cassoway walked in. Not much reason to keep the commlink running anyway. AR was a poor substitute for full immersion and the crippled ‘link they allowed her to use couldn’t do much in the way of interesting stuff. At least they gave her some matrix access.

“Hi Doc.  Can I go home now?”, she asked, as she always did.

Dr. Cassoway gave her the same noncommittal smile and shrug that she always got in reply. “How are you feeling with the new dose?”, he asked.

“The drug’s okay, I guess.  Less dizzy than yesterday.”

“And the worries?”

She looked him directly in the eyes. “You mean the paranoia? No, I don’t think the government is trying to kill me today, if that’s what you mean.”

“Have the thoughts gone away completely?”

Clarisse considered lying, but he was always able to tell anyway.  "A little bit left. I was thinking one of the nurses was up to something."

“I read that in the notes.  And what are you thinking about that now?”

“Probably wasn’t real.”

Cassoway nodded.  "Sounds like it is working pretty well.  How about we give it a few more days and see how things go before we decide on any more changes?"

The girl shrugged, “Whatever.”

There was a long silence before he spoke again.  "Tell me about Grace."

She felt her shoulders slump.  She’d hoped he wouldn’t ask.

“What about her?”

“Paul tells me you thought you saw her yesterday. "

Clarisse sighed, “Yeah. Someone that looks like her anyway. Didn’t get a good look.  Paul told me there’s nobody by that name here.  Besides, Grace is dead. I saw her body myself.”

“Was it the same time of day that you were worried about what Paul was up to?”

Clarisse thought about that for a while.  "Actually, now that you mention is, that was in the afternoon both times.  When it happened I thought Paul was lying to me. Maybe that’s why I thought he was up to something."

Cassoway nodded. “That’s also the time of day when the medication is at its lowest point. I’ll look at tweaking the release profile to give you a better blood level at that time of day.  That should help.”

Clarisse shrugged again, “Whatever.”

“One more question. How are the headaches?”, he said, nodding at the commlink.

She couldn’t resist lying about something so important.  "Better. I don’t get any problems with AR. Can I try some VR?"

Cassoway gave that same smile he always did whenever Clarisse tried to lie to him. “Let’s just stick to the plan for now.”

As he left the room, she had to suppress the urge to throw the commlink at his head, but that was just going to earn her more medication. 

And she needed to keep the dose as low as possible so that she could stay aware of what was really going on.

Vesic took a second sip of her Riesling while she waited. Shego’s was busy tonight and she had been lucky to get a table. Then again, attractive elven women with plenty of nuyen often got lucky that way.

Cleo arrived at the table and slid into her seat. The Asian elf was dressed in her typical hunting clothes, this time a revealing semitransparent dress with strategically placed nanofibre patches whose clarity could probably be changed on the fly.  Clearly she wasn’t planning to spend a lot of time at the table talking. Vesic could already see the dark eyes wandering across the dance floor, searching for likely prey.

Cleo looked at the white wine and made a face, “Still have a taste for the old country, hey?  You should really try to branch out into some new experiences, Vesic.”

The dark-skinned woman shrugged and took another sip. “Old love dies hard, Cleo.”

The Asian woman focused her attention on her friend’s face and a knowing smile played across her lips. “I hear someone has a new love these days.”

Vesic sighed inwardly. This was not a conversation she wanted to have now. “We’re just old friends.  No-one you would know.”

“Pretty different from your usual type”, remarked Cleo.  "Short.  Round ears.  He’s nothing like Rodr…."

Vesic interrupted by grabbing her friend’s hand and squeezing hard. “We’re not going there, Cleo!  That part of my life is over and I’m not going to talk about it.”

“Fine, whatever.  So what’s the deal? Is he rich or something?”

“You wouldn’t understand, Cleo.”

“Not rich, huh?  Powerful?  Knows the right people?”

Vesic sighed again, this time out loud.  "Cleo…"

“What?  Is he good in bed then?”

Vesic could see that her friend was not going to be derailed from this. Better to play along before her questions got too uncomfortable. “Well…”

“Hah! I knew something was up.  But, Japanese guys are usually… under endowed.”

“The size of the rifle is not as important as where you aim it.” Vesic added a sly smile for good effect.

Cleo grinned knowingly and once again scanned the dance floor and obviously saw something she liked.  She rose, excusing herself, and headed off looking like a dark-haired, fair-skinned cat on the prowl.

Vesic had another sip of wine. Cleo would never understand that there were other things to get out of a relationship besides sex, and no amount of explaining was going to help.

As she watched the other woman enthrall a young man, Vesic calmly placed a call. Her friend would be occupied for the evening, and she wasn’t about to waste a perfectly good wine buzz.

Might as well get in some target practice too.

Rin smiled non-commitally as the blonde took up residence on the treadmill next to her. She had seen the girl several times during the rehab sessions while recovering from her surgery. The older woman had almost gotten used to the girl’s unusual appearance.  She wasn’t sure what had happened to her, but whatever it was, it must have been serious. The cyberskull had not been fully covered and was very disconcerting, but didn’t have nearly the impact as when Rin had first seen her come to the exercise room.  That sight had almost made Rin reconsider her outlook on her own cyber-prosthetics.

The teen was a bit reserved, but that was understandable. High end medical facilities tended to have clientele who valued their privacy more than making new friends. Still, she seemed friendly enough, in a distant sort of way. She’d said her name was Jane, in that searching manner that suggested she was giving a pseudonym rather than her real identity.

The surgical rehab was going well and the surgeon had told her that she’d likely be discharged the next day or so.  The augmentations were working well and her balance was returning. There was still pain at the surgical site but it was a minor inconvenience now.,

“Looks like that is getting easier every day”, commented the blonde in her strange, reverberant voice.  Rin had guessed that her surgical reconstruction must have affected her vocal cords.  Still, many women would die for such a deep, resonant, yet still clearly feminine sound.

Rin nodded, concentrating on the treadmill readout.  Looking Jane in the eyes was a disconcerting experience.  She’d never met a teenager with such an intense gaze.

The older woman ventured a more personal question.  "How about you?  Going home soon?"

If Jane was put off by the question, it didn’t show on her face. "I do not know.  The psychiatrist who visits me appears to be fascinated by the effects of my…accident.  I suspect that he is the cause of the delay."

Rin glanced up.  "You mean Dr. Cassoway?"  When Jane nodded in agreement, she continued, “Came by to see me before my surgery. Something about a ‘routine assessment’ before they undertook the augmentation. He seems okay. Whatever it was he wanted to know, I guess I gave him the right answers.”

The blonde nodded absently and seemed disinclined to talk further. Rin wasn’t sure what she was like before her accident, but the older woman could see why psychiatry would be involved. It was difficult to talk to her. Like something wasn’t there.

When Rin finished her activity program, the physiotherapist nodded.  "This is our last session, Miss Takahashi.   There’s little else we can do.  You just time to heal. It’s been a pleasure working with you."

Rin nodded to the professional and then to the blonde girl.  "I guess I’m leaving soon.  Nice to meet you, Jane."

Jane looked at her with that disconcerting stare.  "Hope you find what you are looking for."

Rin stood next to the treadmill for a long moment. Long enough that the blonde took notice and give her a questioning look.

“You know”, said the japanese woman. “I have a special team that I work with. You might be able to find a place in it. The work is… Well, it’s not easy. But it pays well, and after what you’ve been through, I thought you might have something to…prove. Call me if you’re interested.”

Rin sent her ‘business’ commcode to the girl’s ’link.

Jane nodded to the older woman.

“Thank you. I will think about this.”

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Executive Testimony Finally Ends

Yesterday saw the conclusion of Roger Muran’s testimony at the Hutt’s Inquiry. The Lone Star Executive spent a total 12 days on the witness stand where he was extensively cross-examined by Justice Hutts, city legal counsel Sharon Tremblay, and Lone Star lawyer Nathan Burrows. Mr. Muran’s intensive questioning was often heated and required frequent recesses to allow parties to cool down.

Mr. Muran’s testimony was marred by an attempted assault when a disgruntled city employee tried to pelt the executive with rotten fruit. He was thwarted by Mr. Muran’s teenage daughter, who happened to be in the courtroom. Muran will return to Houston, although Ms. Tremblay received permission from Justice Hutts to recall the executive at a future date if further questioning was needed.

“Hello Brian. No, I’m not your doctor and no, I can’t prescribe you more drugs.”

This was my third attempt at entering the psychiatric hospital where Clarisse was being treated, so I’d gotten to used to the requests of certain patients as I made my way into the hospital.  What I hadn’t gotten used to was the amount of smoke I had to wade through in order to get to the hospital.  Hell, what kind of hospital allows patients to smoke right in front of the main entrance?

This time it was easier to ignore the background aura, I shouldn’t have tried visiting on while there was a full moon.  The background count spikes on those nights around a psych ward.  I should have remembered the origins of the word lunatic. I had heard that they get a lot of code whites during the full moon, wonder if they chose the color white because of the color of the moon?

On entering the hospital, my commlink’s AR displayed a map with a path to the various locations I was authorized to visit. I chose Clarisse’s room and headed up.  Various RFID tags stating “Do it for Damien! Donate now!” popped up during my walk.  I was initially confused as to why Ares Macrotechnology cared anything about Sitara’s child until I remembered they were most likely talking about Damien Knight.

The AR says Clarisse is just behind these doors in what looks to be a common area. I open the doors and step in.

“Hello Clarisse, I got your message. How are you?”

Seconds later, the commlinks of the staff in area scream out:

“CODE WHITE! Room 3723 common area. CODE WHITE! Room 3723 common area.”

Nicodemus finished the image transmission and triggered the commlink’s purge routine. He tossed the now useless device into the recycling chute and smiled to himself. Yes, it was all coming together nicely.

The little girl came bouncing into the room, her dark curly hair still damp from the sea spray. “Are you ready to play now, Uncle Nicki?”, she asked.

He smiled at the seven-year-old and slapped his knees, standing up. “Of course, my dear. But I’ve forgotten where we were. Am I the evil vizier, or the handsome elven prince?”

The girl rolled her eyes and stamped her foot dramatically. “That was yesterday, Uncle Nicki! You’re the Great Dragon Ryumyo and I’m the Empress who you serve!”

Nicodemus smiled at the child’s innocence. “Of course, forgive me if I’ve forgotten my place, oh most gracious and beautiful Empress Damienne.”

Sometime you wake up in the morning… well sometimes you wake up in the early afternoon and you have your day planned. Well at least the rest of your afternoon.

So we had Clarisse transferred to the new facilities but I don’t really know if anyone really explained the situation to her. People think I’m paranoid but I can just imagine K-Bunny in her state of mental confusion getting transferred and not really knowing why and going crazy thinking people are trying to take her away from her friends and family.

So that was my plan, visit K-Bunny.

“Hey K-Bunny, how’s it going?”, I asked as I poked my head in the doorway.

“Maz, come quick, I need to tell you something.”, she said looking quickly around the room.

When I got there, her lips were moving but I couldn’t really hear anything. I know I should get the ear implants to improve my hearing but I don’t really want to hear the sounds around my crappy apartment any better. I think the rooms near mine are rented by the hour. I’ve already got some of those hours implanted in my brain.

2072 September 29th @ 2:30am

Squeak, squeak, squeak…
Oh god!! Uncle Chester, you beast! Oh god, you know I love the way you hog tie me! You really know your knots! Drive me to market, Uncle Chester!

So I lean in to hear what she’s saying…

“Closer, you need to block the cameras so they don’t read my lips.”

So I put my ear right a few inches from her mouth so I can hear and she wraps her arms around my head, maybe to block the cameras.

“They’re after me, you know? One of the nurses, Paul, keeps checking me out. He keeps trying to look down my top or cop a feel. You need to get me out of here. What’s up with Sam? I sent him an urgent message. Have they replaced him too?”

“I’ll check it out KB, I’ll talk to Paul. I don’t think anythings happened to Sam although I haven’t seen him fumble his magic recently which is kind of odd. I’ll punch him in the nose and see if he’s still his old self. I brought you a book on photography. Mostly its got some cool pictures.”

So I head out trying to find Paul who happens to be coming my way with a cart of medications for the patients. For some reason he looks familiar…

“Oh, excuse me sir.”, Paul says with a blush.

“The Purple Onion”, I say. Paul now looks beet red. “You were the one hitting on my japanese friend”.

Paul takes a few steps back and seems to be keeping the cart between me and him. “I didn’t know he was with you. No offense sir.”

I start laughing. The last few weeks hadn’t been that great so it felt good to laugh. “Sir?”, Paul asked.

“He wasn’t with Mazula. Mazula was just there to make sure an elf friend was safe as he tried to pick up Mark Garibaldi.”

“Please, don’t let it get out around here that I go there. Please sir!”, Paul was looking desperate now, “Don’t tell my wife!”

“Look, Mazula’s got nothing to gain by telling anyone.”, I told him as I kept walking down the hall. I think he caught my fists clench when I glanced back and saw him checking out my ass.

I jab the button to the elevator a little harder than necessary I suppose and hop in. Inside is a 30-something nurse who seems to be on her way home.

“Hey, want to grab some dinner with Mazula and get some exercise holding onto the bed posts?”, I can really pull out the charm when I want to.

“Look creep, as tempting as cheating on my husband would be, the last person I’d cheat with is you.”

“Tempted. Hmmm.”

“Well, if he is sleeping with other women, I can sleep with other men, right?”

“I suppose.”

“Men are all bastards. You’re a bastard. Paul’s a bastard.”

“Paul, you mean the other nurse that works here?”

“Ummm, yeah. That’s my husband.”

“Oh, I don’t think you have to worry about your husband sleeping with other women then.”

“And how the hell would you know?”

“Just a hunch. Give me a call if you change your mind…”, I say as I walk out the building.

“This is CRT-42. We are inbound to Puyallup-14 with a dwarven male, non-Awakened, multiple gunshot wounds. In shock with heavy blood loss. Vitals unstable. Heart rate variable. BP 42 over zero. ETA two minutes. Uploading scan data now.”

“Roger, CRT-42. Puyallup-14 has a trauma team standing by. Reception bay is clear.”

Max continued to work on the dwarf’s wounds as Rocky relayed medical data to the nearest DocWagon™ medical facility. By the look of things, he’d been shot at least seven or eight times. His chest and abdomen were a bloody pulp. Multiple red lights were flashing on the system, and it looked very grim for the guy, whoever he was. His implants pegged him as a driver, and judging by his gear, this wasn’t the first time he’d been shot at. Not that any of that mattered to Max. The EMT’s job was to get him to the hospital still breathing, and he was damn well going to do it.

Max grabbed the stretcher as the ambulance careened around another corner. He slapped on yet another trauma patch to try to stabilize the dwarf. Rocky continued to apply pressure to the worst of the wounds. As the red lights continued to accumulate, the ambulance pulled into the trauma bay at Puyallup-14. A half dozen medical staff waited to take dwarf. Max lost sight of him as they wheeled him into the trauma suite, but there were least two yellow lights on the monitor before they disappeared.

With a long shift still ahead, Max headed into the break room to get some sofkaf. As he raised the cup to his lips, he realized that he was still covered in the dwarf’s blood. He tossed the drink into the recycling bin and headed off to the washroom. Twenty minutes of scrubbing and a change of uniform later, Max emerged to fill another cup.

As he was walking back to the ambulance bay, one of the trauma surgeons emerged from the clinic. He walked over and got her attention, glancing at the ID badge clipped to the white coat.

“Doctor Brown? How’s the guy we just brought in? The dwarf with the multiple gunshot wounds?”

The red-headed woman looked at Max and shook her head sadly. “We weren’t able to help him, too much damage. I’m amazed he lasted long enough to get here. You guys do good work out there.”

Max nodded solemnly and headed back to the ambulance. He tossed the second cup of soykaf into the recycler as well.

Well, you win some and you lose some. Guess it just wasn’t his lucky day.

Rape Suspect Found Murdered

Lone Star investigators have confirmed that Abraham Philips, the bartender found dead yesterday on the I-90, was under investigation for the alleged rape of Eréndira Bonilla, daughter of Aztlan diplomatic attaché, Arlan Bonilla. Philips was a respected member of the elven community in Snohomish, and active in several local organizations. His demise has been officially listed as an accident, but friends and family are shouting “racism”, claiming that police have not completed a full investigation because Philips was an elf.

The Snohomish resident is the third elf found dead under questionable circumstances in the past week. Two of the men were under direct investigation for the alleged rape, and the third matched the description of the perpetrator, leading some to speculate that Atzlan agents may be acting outside UCAS laws. Police sources have been quick to discount these rumors, but insiders confirm that there has been a crackdown on internal security since the deaths.

Election Campaign Heats Up

The race for the presidency saw verbal fireworks last night as incumbent President Angela Colloton and Democrat challenger, Bartholemew Ogama, exchanged heated barbs during last night’s virtual town hall meeting. Ogama criticized the Republican administration’s handling of the nationwide explosion of violence that has occurred because of the meteoric growth of the use of the street drug tempo. Colloton countered by calling the Democratic plan to deal with crime and drugs “a pointless and naive band-aid solution”. Both candidates spent the majority of their allotted debate time criticizing each others’ real or proposed policies. Commentators and political pundits have pointed out that there was little in the way of new or constructive suggestions for solving the problem.

Corporate Elite Gets More Than Questions

Roger Muran, Senior Vice President from Lone Star Security services, made an appearance at the Hutts Inquiry today, answering charges that the corporation places its bottom line before the safety of the people. Muran was on the stand for nearly three hours as the city’s lead counsel, Sharon Tremblay, questioned him about policies, procedures and internal communications. Justice Hutts also asked several pointed questions about the Texas-based company’s response to the Excrement ticket riots.

The hearings were briefly disrupted by a protester who attempted to throw rotten fruit at the Lone Star executive. Mr. Muran’s teenage daughter, Beth, intervened and tackled the would-be assailant before he could lob the offending orange. Ms. Muran had to be pulled off the man as she repeatedly struck him in the head with her commlink. Justice Hutts called a halt to proceedings for the day to allow Knight Errant to investigate the breach in their security. Mr. Muran later told reporters that he would consider loaning his daughter to the rival firm to “help better train their guards”.

Trid Star Checks Out

Representatives of trid star Markie Morris announced that he has finished his rehabilitation program at the Lindsay Lohan Center in Bellevue and will be returning to work in the coming weeks. Mr. Morris entered the rehab facility as part of his plea-bargain deal with the courts after being arrested for possession of and trafficking in illegal and dangerous BTL chips. Morris’ agent stated that the star “recognizes that he had a problem and is now clean and ready to regain the respect of his fans”. Morris has been resident at the center since early June following his arrest during a city-wide BTL crackdown by Lone Star Security Services.

Brackhaven Founds a New Zen Mecca

Political heiress and drug artist, Tiffany Brackhaven, has turned the small Cascade Ork town of Cartwright into an artists’ mecca. Since moving to the hamlet two years ago, Brackhaven has stepped away from her life as the sole heiress to the Brackhaven empire and focused her attention on her controversial drug art. In that time, Cartwright has blossomed into a thriving community attracting thousands of visitors each year. Not one to seek the spotlight, Brackhaven attributes the town’s success to local businesses and the willingness of the people to accept her and those like her. Most recently Brackhaven herself has accepted something new into her life and admitted to using the drug tempo as a way to help her maintain focus and complete her work.

Governor Kenneth Brackhaven has steadfastly declined to comment on his daughter’s artistic endeavors and recent public admission of tempo use.