FACT SHEET | OPERATION PILGRIM

Introduction

Operation PILGRIM

Released by: Lost and Found Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs
Clearance: YELLOW-Lost-and-Found-Venture
Threat designation: YELLOW, recommended change: RED
Approval by Lost and Found Bureau / Pending

Read detailed presentation

Present:

• Commandant Jehanne Jeannot DuBlanc, Head of Control
• Aspirant, Viv Rosza Parthon de Von, code name CHARIOT, Head of D-Team
• D-Team: Alessi Saadauri, Guillame Gavroche, Lucca Puglessi, Osir Yei

JJ wastes little time coming to the heart of the matter.

"It is now 27 January of 2024, since the Treaty of Marseilles (named after Josephine Marseilles, a warlord who established areas of polis influences) has been signed. We’re beginning a pre-op session with Team D for operation PILGRIM, supervised by officer CHARIOT, who was delegated from team C. I authorize this action on the condition of extraordinary urgency. Officer CHARIOT, please continue."

The madame sits, while a young, somewhat stiff, woman in dragoon uniform, rises.

"I am Aspirant, Viv Rosza Parthon de Von, codename CHARIOT. The codename is to feature in your reports, and it is meant to be used in all official communication. Understood, soldiers?"

"Very well, this is the background of our case. Questions, afterwards."

"On November 12, 2023, we have received a report that a case of cholera, or a sickness with similar symptoms, has been discovered in Perez 1973, a dust town forty kilometers to the west of Trampya."
NOTE: Dust towns have no names, therefore to file them properly, the most important person (their surname) and the date of establishment are combined. 1973 means that the dust town is pretty long lived and that it’s water supply is pretty stable.

"As Perez 1973 is located near the route of most caravans from the west, a first responder medic and water supply recovery teams were despatched and reached the site on December 12. The number of confirmed cases was thirty, a full blown epidemic. The town was quarantined, and on the first of January the outbreak was under control with only twenty fatalities and optimistic prospects."

"On January 27th, early morning (about four hours ago), the hospital was bombed. According to a radio report, a group of beast riding hostiles (about twenty strong) in cooperation with Perez 1973 insurgents broke the quarantine and then removed all patients. As cholera is highly contagious, it is expected that wherever they escaped, it will shortly become a source of another outbreak."

"However, this is not the primary concern of our team. Apparently, the hostiles were binding their time in local ruins in nearby hills, and used weapons of unknown origin during the attack. Our job is to trail them, and retrieve samples. Also, establish the origin of such weapons."

"According to the report, the weapons were powerful explosives that could have been detonated with some delay. The explosives were mobile, resembled multi-legged, carapace insects of about sixty centimeters long moving at the speed of a running person. The hostiles were capable of guiding them into our positions prior to detonations. No further information is available as shortly after the report there was Charlie Foxtrot." NOTE: Charlie Foxtrot aka Communications Failure aka loss off communication.

"Our objectives are as follows: at the shortest possible notice reach the location of the event, determine the status of quarantine team (ten people total) and recover survivors, discover status of the patients and provide information on potential secondary outbreak locations, retrieve samples of the unknown weapon and learn their origin. As a Lost and Found Bureau team, the samples are our priority. As it is expected that follow-up teams are to appear, other objectives are secondary."

"Your assets for the mission: Bumblebee Mk2 Truck with secondary set of batteries (allows to move for 16 hours instead of 8 hours, recharge is 1 hour at recharge point or a single day per 8 hours), water and rations for 40ty man days, protective gloves and masks [5 sets], 4 cans of insecticide with spray guns each [untested on this particular species, lasts a scene, enables killing insects, d8 anti-insect asset]. A canister of disinfectant (needs to e diluted in water). A spade. A set of general tools. Tire repair set. A set of three tents. A coil of rope (30 meters). Five torchlights (rechargeable). We need a proficient driver, a scout, a sniper, also people with a basic knowledge of medicine or science. You will maintain contact using radio set, Hummingbird Mk1 (old but reliable), and you will use it to provide sitreps every day, at the end of the day, and whenever something untoward happens." (yes, CHARIOT is not to going to be participating personally – she’s managing the mission remotely)

Day 0 [Saturday, Jan 27th, 2024]

1. The travel takes a day over a decent but empty road.

Trampya
Region 4♥: Big Sky Plains – Badlands – A large city of small white cupolas and copper-covered minarets, with hundreds of two-floor buildings and five markets. Gleaming and well maintained solar field to the north, while smelting factory to the west and several well guarded plantations to east and south.

2. Initially the road is clear, however then it changes to dry riverbed and short-distance tracts used by caravans. You reach the destination in the late evening.

Perez 1973
CURRENT: Four 3-floor bone-white buildings (made out of cheap concrete CMUs (concrete masonry units aka hollow blocks) with numerous little stone huts, now all with dark stains of extinct fires. Windows and doors are broken, pieces of furniture taken out and broken, littering the ground. No visible bodies.

Day 1 [Monday, Jan 29th, 2024]

3. Investigating Perez 1973
   1. The town is infested with dangerous life forms: baloon-like fungus growths that appear to grow out of organic matter. They seem to have three purposes: to explode if disturbed, to infect if caused to explode, to cultivate a next stage life-form if undisturbed. Their progress rate is high as long as they are exposed to sufficient amount of organic nutrients (dead organism tissue) and water. The progress rate slows down significantly if the resources are exhausted, and fails if exposed to sunlight as their ultraquick growth is prone to multiple issues. The creature, as dissected, proved to be nocturnal and infested with cancerous growths.
   2. While investigating the town, you encountered a highly mobile and aggressive humanoid with prominent insect features (external carapace, exoskeleton, insect-like extremities). Apparently it was a mature life-form that was produced from contaminated waterworks system (a water reservoir with plant hothouse). The humanoid appeared to be sufficiently organized to provide food for less advanced stages.
   3. Further investigation (next morning):
      1. There are survivors in an old mine. They may be infected though.
      2. There was a sniper. Captured and interrogated, they revealed location of the other hostiles. Apparently, they belong to a cult of sort that is spreading among local nomadic groups.

Day 2 [Tuesday, Feb 22nd, 2024]

4. Following on the leads: infiltrating cult headquarter location. Cult quarters named Castle Free.
   1. Three important locations: an outpost, a minor nameless town, and an entrance to an underground complex.
   2. All hostiles dealt with. The hostiles were human, with various stages of infection, and influenced by hostile ideology of religious provenience.
   3. The cult assumes that there is a superior being, a so-called Night-Visitor. This being has a temple nearby. The infection is a progress toward the next stage of living, and the sacred mission is to spread it. The infected appear to be prone to euphoria, and their lacking health is considered by them to be negligible. They are fanatic and unreasonable otherwise.
   4. The existence of the cult should be deemed as threat to all that is humane.
5. After the report, the protagonists enter the so-called Black Temple.
   1. In the dark, winding, hot and humid environment, they find traces of forgotten technology sustaining life incompatible with humanity.
   2. Apparently, the complex is a melting pot of several layers of flora and fauna, operating at extremes of metabolic rate. Hot, humid, nourishing and devastatingly predatory, it is a relic of Age of Fire or Age of Madness. The lifeforms are not capable of prolonged survival in the barren wastes of Mars, but they can be exceedingly risky if somehow delivered to a population center, as their explosive growth may claim many lives.
   3. After thorough investigation, procurement of samples, and exposure to alien influences, the D-Team escapes from the complex and delivers the report.

Mission completion briefing

6. Following the events of the mission, D-Team was successfully quarantined and deemed suitable to further missions with no lasting health concerns.
7. Recognizing D-Team achievements, they were granted 14-week leave (consumed for quarantine and interview purposes), bonus pay.
8. Unfortunately, the leave was cut short due to beginning of the next mission.

Public Announcement
Perez.1973 dust town has been temporarily quarantined due to suspected contamination of water supply. Thanks to the powers of Illium, the dust town is on the road to speedy recovery with estimated casualty count of 20, and remaining number of citizens at 15. The dust town is expected to open in June 2024.

Security Summary
The quarantine history and Perez.1973 wrap-up: YELLOW-Lost-and-Found, YELLOW-Health.
The cleanup-of Castle Free and the threat of other dust towns: YELLOW-Military, RED-otherwise.
The lore of the Cult of Night Visitor (including Black Temple and suspected genesis of the cult): RED-Lost-and-Found, BLACK-otherwise.
Weaponized roaches (specimens and research materials), engineered diseases (specimens and research materials): BLACK, GOLD.

Security Designation Guide
You are currently YELLOW-Lost-and-Found.