xp_logs | Congress of Behram

Remy calls a meeting about the information he received from Vazhin, and typically, it isn't good.

It wasn't the strangest group around the conference table at Snow Valley that Remy had assembled, but it was getting close. A blue former mercenary and whore, an East Germany trained secret policeman turned accountant, a gum popping Asian barely out of her teens, and now a noted and often distrusted Palestinian professor who liked to dabble in the world of espionage. A CIA trained Cajun sadist almost seemed, well, boring in this company. Remy slid the cup of coffee over to Farouk and took his own seat.

"We have a problem. Vazhin, in thanks for pulling Romanova out of de fire, passed along a little free intelligence to me, regarding dis upcoming international conference on mutation in de modern world. We've already got Mark, Marie-Ange, and Doug signed up to further our Snow Valley cover, and it looks like Professor Xavier will be dere with some of de people involved in de Institute programs, or Elpis. According to Vazhin's sources, something called 'SIROCCO' has been activated. Dat mean anything to you?" Everyone looked blankly back, and Remy shrugged. "Whatever it is, it's tied in wit' Russian technology sales back fifteen, twenty years ago in de Middle East, and is now in de hands of militant Muslim fundamentalists. De plan is to use it to assassinate William Bastion during de conference. Bastion is de former US ambassador to de UN, who got sacked over dat speech during de crisis in Pakistan. All dat Vazhin knows is dat dere's four operatives attending de conference involved in de SIROCCO program, and dey'll be de ones taking de shot."

He tossed his pen down and leaned back in his chair. "I asked Professor Farouk to sit in, since he's got some interesting channels of information, but also understands more about de political dimensions of dis den any of us. So, Professor, what happens if dis thing works?"

Farouk reached for the cup and jerked his fingers back as the unexpectedly hot handle burned his fingers. He shook his head, the very image of an absent-minded professor reproaching himself for a silly mistake and turned his attention toward the group. His glance was rather brief, shrewd eyes taking in the gathering before flickering toward the abstract painting on the wall as he waggled his fingers deprecatingly.

"The situation would be somewhat fluid so I would caution you take take my analysis with a healthy dose of skepticism. I usually try to err on the positive side as to avoid excessive alarmism." He shrugged and blew on the coffee, sending small ripples scattering across the surface of the brown liquid as he tried to cool it. "Briefly I would guess Armageddon would happen, if 'this thing works,' ladies and gentlemen."

Farouk extended his left hand, fist clenched before extending his thumb and beginning the measured, quiet countdown. "The most immediate repercussions are likely to originate in India. Our good friend Ken is likely to be zealous to demonstrate to the world opinion that 1 - he wasn't responsible, 2 - that he is not as weak as a successful assassination carried out at the function hosted by his sister might suggest and 3 - that he was right all along about the threat of mutant terrorism, as was Bastion and all of his critics are morons at best and collaborators at worst."

Amahl smiled beatifically, "His security services are going to go absolutely berserk. Certainly the Imperial Guard that has been rather quiescent of late... " Farouk's eyes darted toward LeBeau's impassive face and back again. "... would be let off the leash again. And his popularity is likely to spike domestically and internationally - a substantial stratum of society was left rather hugely dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation of the Srinagar Incident."

His trigger finger spiked out like a knife. "The damage to the situation in Pakistan would be incalculable. It's fragile as it is - fragile being a code word for an 'increasingly escalating clusterfuck.' Many of the contributors to the UN garrison forces are beginning to look for the way to cut the losses and get out, especially with the financial crisis beginning to take effect. The slight progress achieved in terms of re-establishing equilibrium within the Protectorate would evaporate as the new round of factional strife would begin."

Another finger. "Outside of the immediate region we are likely to see pogroms, and at least one Civil War in Africa and possibly attempted coups in Madripoor and Burma. In general less stability as both militant Islam and the mutants are seen once again as something with whom coexistence is impossible."

Another. "The trend overall would be for increasingly authoritarian and repressive measures to counter the threat. Within states with large proportion of mutant populations the increased relevancy is likely to be given to the proponents of abrogated civil rights for mutants, expulsion, genetic cleansing and the like. The inevitable attempts by the new American Administration to de-escalate the crisis are likely to result in increased isolation both abroad and domestically, adding to the instability of the global paradigm. In parallel - an increased influence of the regimes who have already taken a harder line on Mutant-Human relations - India, China, Iran off the top of my head..."

Farouk's hand was laying flat on the table now, the fingers splayed out and he scratched at one of the nails absently. "The corollary is rather obvious, I suppose. In response to repression there will be a radicalization of the mutant community and greater degree of agreement with the philosophy of Erik Lensherr. Increased levels of terrorist activity will in turn lead to increased repression and reprisals. War feeding upon war, situation increasingly viewed in terms of zero-sum game."

He grasped his cup carefully and sipped, nodding in muted satisfaction. "In short - it would be bad."

With his final statement Vanessa couldn't help but think, Hey good on the melodramatic presentation. Not that she really thought Farouk was being melodramatic so much as the resulting shit storm he relayed to them made her head ache a bit. "Alright, so this assassination goes down and we're effectively letting someone snatch one of the foundation cards for our house so the entire thing comes crashing down on the heads of mutants everywhere while we feed the seeming rightness of rulers like the twats in China and India, I'm getting that right?" She liked her reiteration of facts better. "So, excuse my insane ignorance here, but why Bastion? What makes him so special that he's the target? Why not someone like Charles, proponent of peace and happiness for all, instead?"

"Because Charles Xavier is a friend to mutantkind," North answered, not looking up from the documents on the table. "Not to mention that he's a philanthropist. Assassinating him would be a tragedy only in the general sense of the word, considering the man's role to the world. William Bastion, on the other hand, was a United States ambassador. A symbol of the West, of prosperity, of the privileged. Ex-military, so even retired, he represents America's power."

He flipped through the information on the table, then squared up the papers and looked over at Remy. "A mutant assassinating Xavier is like throwing a lit cigarette into a pile of dry leaves. Assassinating Bastion would be like throwing that cigarette into a keg of gunpowder."

"North is right. As much as de human-mutant tension is, it's nothing compared to de Muslim-west tension, and dat's got over a thousand years of history invested into it." Remy said, rubbing his chin. He'd worked in every hotspot the CIA dabbled into in Africa and the Middle East following the breakup of the Soviets, and had seen where hardline groups had seized power. "Killing Bastion serves as a rallying point, and Pakistan is bordered by two fundamentalist controlled governments; Iran and Afghanistan. You'd have young mutants lining up to turn demselves into mutant suicide bombers for de mullahs, and in response... after Day Zero, de public will all but demand measures dat make de Mutant Registration Act look like a bad joke."

There was another dimension bothering Remy, and he faced Farouk with a grim expression. "Tell me something, Professor. De way I'm thinking, de assassination doesn't even have to succeed. As long as it gets close and fails publicly or de information gets out, dat's going to do almost as much damage, neh?"

Amahl frowned thoughtfully, the fingernails tapping the brim of his cup. Finally he shrugged. "Impossible to be sure, I am afraid - a failed assassination brings in too many variables. General Bastion's reaction, for example, would weigh a great deal and it is difficult to predict. In addition a failed assassination is easier to spin favourably - in terms of portraying mutants/radical Muslims as a negligible threat due to their demonstrable incompetence. There would be less momentum to react in abgraphic manner by the status quo. On the other hand a degree of backlash would still be inevitable. But, as I said, incalculable."

Farouk pulled on his mustache absently. "In fact, it also might be considered that if prevention of the General's murder is to prove impossible, some sort of accident befalling Mr. Bastion would prove rather convenient. A heart-attack, say. He's a man under a lot of stress, after all."

The professor made the effort to keep his face muscles relaxed. He would have never dreamt of even hinting toward this solution in the midst of the more doctrinaire followers of Xavier, but the current assemblage was rather more pragmatic. Still, all of them had walked the Damascus Road of some sort that brought them to the mansion.... One never knew when moral indignation would rear its vapid head.

Farouk leaned back and waited for the reaction.

"Potential consequences of dat could be just as severe. If Langstrom smells a rat, he'll start digging, and he's got no problem floating de idea dat Bastion's death by natural causes in de same building as Xavier is suspicious." Remy shook his head. He wasn't unwilling to trade one life, no matter how innocent, for millions, but it was premature to even plan for it yet.

"We're going to have to keep Bastion alive and dis whole thing secret. Dere's just too many players dat can twist dis to dere own agendas."

"So, we're playing secret babysitter then?" Jubilee asked, her feet tucked up under the chair she'd been slouching in till this point. She hadn't had anything to add, and so had remained silent as the others laid out the information. "We've established that him dying via assassination, or killing the man is bad juju, so I'm assumin' here that you'll want us to go along and make sure that neither happens, or has to happen, yeah?"

"Essentially. If we're going to avoid trouble, we'll have to shut down SIROCCO quietly, so dat as few people as possible know dat dere was any disruption or threat. Dat means getting away clean, and not leaving anything for even local media. Not exactly an easy task." Remy's hands toyed with his pen as he spoke, trying to consider the dimensions of tracking unknown operatives in a massive conference of strangers, and once identifying them, finding a way to neutralize them silently and without evidence. It was not an easy puzzle to solve.

"Ah, dragging people into corners, coshing them over the head with a pipe, and covering it up the next day. This is like the class you take at university that you'll never expect to use in your adult life, isn't it?" North smiled broadly, toying with a cigarette lighter. "We need to observe, identify, isolate, and engage." He ticked off the points on his fingers. "At least four of us, constantly moving. I know that the Xavier Institute has delegates at the conference as well, they're potential assets in a pinch. I assume we've already taken the list of known attendees and run it against our intelligence database?" At the acknowledging nod, he leaned back in his seat. "We can't make assumptions about these SIROCCO operatives. Politically-motivated does not equal stupid or careless."

"Are we necessarily dealing with run of the mill humans or is there a possibility of them being mutants? Y'know, someone like Laurie could induce a mild enough heart attack to get Bastion out of dodge without him having to die from the heart attack," Morgan offered, not expecting anyone to be receptive to the idea. "'Alive' doesn't have to equate to 'in good health,' after all. A telepath would be handy and useful, but if we're not opposed to chloroforming people we can always nab someone with high security access for me to walk around in. Or I could maybe sweet talk someone like Doug out of his body for use for a bit. It'll, if nothing else, get us someone who should be there who can skulk around, ask questions that seem harmless but aren't and have ears close by. Besides, I like playing dress up when I'm not just the bait. Being the bait blows." Bait never got to do any of the good fighting. Bait usually just got shot at.

Farouk's brain stuttered momentarily, jammed to a screeching halt by an image of Laurie involved in the covert op of any kind, then quietly exploded when he tried to fit her into the specific one under discussion. He coughed again, the hand raised politely to cover him mouth and the faints aftershocks of horror he couldn't quite suppress. "Unfortunately my data suggests that we are going to be dealing with mutants. Worse - professionals. Their quality will probably be below what one would expect of the weaponized mutants of the West or even China, but from what I had been able to gather so far they will be trained operatives, both in terms of their powers and the more mundane weaponry and tactics."

Amahl caught himself and nodded apologetically to the man next to him. "But I am stepping on Mr. LeBeau's toes, I think. Lecture mode is rather hard to turn off, I am afraid. I believe he has more information on SIROCCO, via our friend on Moscow..."

"Unfortunately, Vazhin didn't have a lot more information to tell us. For dose of you who weren't in de game following de breakup of de Soviets, a lot of different agencies and departments in Russian began quietly selling information and technology in exchange for hard currency. A lot of dat went through de Middle East, the bulk funneled through brokers in Syria. Wit' Iraq under a potential Kurdish revolt, Turkey mobilized to prevent dat happening, and everyone else trying to see de allies out post-Desert Storm, Syria essentially got a free pass from everyone, and a lot of money and Soviet tech exchanged hands. All dat Vazhin knows is dat technology dat had been developed as part of de Soviet's advanced infantry initiative ended up tied in wit' SIROCCO. Dat means early cybernetics, some brute force genetic manipulation, and chemical augmentation are all potentially in play here. Bottom line is dat we aren't going to know what we're dealing wit' until we're face to face, and whether de operatives are SIROCCO or whether dey just de delivery method for whatever it is."

Remy tossed a file on the table. "De only good news dat we have is dat we know there are four operatives, all of dem were recruited out of existing regional militaries at de time, for both skills and religious reliability. Dat means we're looking for men between thirty-five and fifty, in good physical shape, likely Middle Eastern features. Dat's going to let us cut down de attendees and staff for sleepers quickly." He looked around the table. "Dis is de point of us being here, people. Stopping SIROCCO is step one. Step two is going to be finding who put dem into play in de first place. Step three... well, dat's where it's likely going to get more complicated."

They all started to file out, and Remy took Morgan aside. "Got a different job for you, femme. When we reach Erfurt, I want you to find an identity to copy, and get in touch wit' de fundamentalist groups dat have representation dere. Jake has identified a couple of leads. Dey likely de ones that helped smuggle dis SIROCCO in country in de first place, and may be providing logistical support. If we lucky, we might be able to wrap dis up outside of the hotel." Remy was very serious. "Frankly, you more likely to be able to shoot you way out den Gavin if something goes wrong."