Control Echo's Operation: Fastpass (Inactive)

Game Master Insnare

AGENTS' BRIEFING (Priority D)

MISSION BACKGROUND

ISB RECORDS FILE 101217: 23 August 1980

Classified to Priority D for briefing purposes

On 16 August. William S. Long, the editor of Puzzlements maga­zine, received a letter from Laszlo Baracsik, a colleague of his from Debrecen, Hungary. It relayed a curious comment concern­ing an acquaintance from the Soviet Union. Mr. Long, who is also president of the World Puzzlers' Association, consulted a fellow member who worked in Washington D.C., as a crypto­grapher for the Defense Intelligence Agency. Long's message was passed up channels, and he was eventually summoned to a conference with the control agent for Section Mercury, the Eastern Europe bureau of NATO's International Security Bureau.
The relevant part of the letter, translated from German, read as follows:

" ... and you will, of course, remember our friend from the Soviet Union, Mr. Lerekhov. He has little time to write, since his work has him detained. He has found a few defects in his solution for the Schmidt Puzzles, and would like suggestions from his col­leagues elsewhere. He will, of course, be at the convention ... "

The name Andrei Lerekhov is not unknown to the ISB; he is responsible for significant portions of the Soviet military's codes, and is also the inventor of the "Lerekhov Loop," a new type of spatial puzzle every Western toy and hobby producer is eager to get the rights to.

"Schmidt" is the name of an East German puzzle expert who fled to West Berlin two years ago. That, and Mr. Baracsik's use of the terms "detain," "defect," and "suggestions from col­leagues elsewhere," could mean that Lerekhov wants to defect and that he is trying to make contact with people in the West who could assist him.

The convention Baracsik referred to is the European Puzzle Editors' Conference, to be held this year in conjunction with the Socialist Puzzle Experts' Association convention in Budapest.

If Lerekhov wishes to defect, he is an important prize the Soviets will not want to let go; he must be removed from the Iron Curtain with a minimum of delay. Your team must accomplish the fol­lowing objectives:

1.) Verify Lerekhov's identity and intent to defect.
2.) Isolate him from any escort and/or surveillance in such a way that some lead time is gained against an alert or pursuit.
3.) Get Lerekhov safely out of Eastern Europe by the fastest available means.

The most desirable course of action would be simply to try and get Lerekhov out on a commercial flight, disguised as a tourist. But that may not be possible if public transport is under surveil­lance; in that case, contacts will help you with other arrange­ments to get Lerekhov to the West.

This is a delicate time: sensitive East-West negotiations are under way in Stockholm, and the Red Army is conducting a series of maneuvers in Czechoslovakia. For these reasons, no connection between the agents on this mission and the United States can exist, nor can the Czechoslovakian border be crossed under any circumstances. The former will create an interna­tional incident and the latter result in certain capture.

You will be provided with cover identities and booked into the hotel. Once there, you will each obtain a "Lerekhov Loop," which is available behind the Iron Curtain, and leave it in your rooms. A contact in the hotel will use it to give you messages coded into the configuration of the puzzle. Secure your cover by acting in character with your identities; you may receive help from unexpected sources-special contacts are already at work preparing the ground-but you will be needed to get him out.

The convention will last for three days; the best time for remov­ing Lerekhov will be Sunday afternoon. Your objectives are as follows:

FRI: Locate Lerekhov·s room and search out its surveillance. Identify any guards or agents watching Lerekhov

SAT: You will be contacted and told whether or not Lerekhov intends to defect. If the word is "go," contact outside sources to prepare an escape to the West.

SUN: Before the final event of the day, remove Lerekhov from he hotel and get him on his way. If he intends to defect.

"How extensive is our ability to generate covers? I realize this is short notice, so our ability may be compromised. Ideally two covers per operative would be ideal, giving us a way to burn an identity and still continue on. For myself, a cover identity of an Emergency Medical Technician, as well as a Police Official of some type, ideally someone who can travel widely, such as the equivalent of an FBI agent or a Naval Investigations Officer."

She taps her chin with one fingernail. "As to extracting him with a head start, if I can get close enough, I can give him an injection with something that would leave him looking dead for up to 10 minutes, although if we don't get the antidote into him by then it won't be just the appearance of being dead. This isn't something that a field agent could safely do, but as a doctor, I believe I have a good chance of keeping him alive."

Hmm, I think one cover identity for me would be as a representative of Nintendo's European Acquisitions group. Second would be as a bridge engineer for Hungary's department of transportation. I'll want that one in reserve, the first will get me into the game convention.

April sits quietly, reading the dossier carefully as she takes mental notes of the important information. When the other woman mentions "killing" the target, her eyes get wide. "While I'm sure you are a good doctor, I'd rather not potentially help the Soviets keep Mr. Lerekhov from defecting. Let's keep that plan as back-up. What types of games will they have at this conference?" she asks the person in charge of the meeting.

"With all due respect, a bullet to the brainpan will be much harder to deal with, and much more certainly lethal. The Soviets are not going to let him go if they think he's alive. A 'dead' person, however, they will not guard nor will they miss him for several hours."

The courier who brought the briefing says, They have many different kinds of puzzle games. The Hungarians have this magic cube game that a lot of businesses are trying to get the licenses for in the west."

Svetlana pushes her glasses up her nose. "I think there may be some confusion. This is the Hungarian People's Republic, the games are board games and physically manipulated puzzles, there may be a few computer games, but it's mostly board and physical puzzles."

"Thank you," April says to both the courier and Svetlana. "That's what I was trying to understand to help with a believable cover. Maybe I'll pose as someone in logistics for a toy company," she says thinking out loud. "I assume we will be entering the country through normal commercial means which will restrict the equipment we can bring. Do we have a contact there who can help us acquire additional equipment if we need it?'

Seriously? All this over a kids toy? Buy one and take it apart?

Sylar shrugs, Maybe from Hasbro, but I was trying to work a non-american angle.

Svetlana shakes her head. "This is not all 'over a toy', it is about getting a brain who is one of the world's foremost authorities on encryption. It is, of course, natural that such brains are interested in logic puzzles, and thus are good at both solving and creating them. The show is simply our best chance of getting him if he wants to defect. My own thought was that such a show would want EMT's nearby, thus an EMT cover. And once we have him, someone with investigatory powers would be useful if anything goes wrong." She turns back to the courier. "Does he have family? If so, will they be with him? I would not want to be there and have this turn into a forced 2 or 5 person extraction without having planned for it."

The courier says, "As far as we know, he doesn't have any and we aren't expecting any to be there. To be fair you don't look Japanese."

"I'm not Japanese...." She trails off, and then nods. "Oh, you mean him and the Nintendo thing. Right. So, can we get those cover identities I mentioned? And the drugs? At least as a backup?"

Well that's rather racist to assume that anyone that works for Nintendo must be Japanese. Do you expect everyone at Taco Bell to be Mexican?

"No, I expect them to be mostly black, at least where I live. I expect most of the employees at KFC to be hispanic, at least where I live." She shrugs. "Get over yourself."

Remember, this is 1980, so PC is barely a gleam in liberal's eyes at this point

You do know this is 1980, right? Before they released Donkey Kong which was released in 1982. I am trying to keep it mostly historically accurate :)

The courier says, "Poor analogy, Taco Bell is owned by an American conglomerate, you may have heard of Pepsico and Nintendo is a Japanese company, an obscure one at that. You want to talk racism, Japanese firms like Toyota or say Subaru do not allow non-Japanese above lower management even in their subsidiaries, be they in Europe or the United States."

He then says, "This is a very rush job, the ideas shouldn't be a problems. Which drugs are you looking for exactly?"

yeah, lots of wiki searching for era appropriate considerations. While Japanese companies kept their management racist, they did often hire gaijin as "culture interpreters" in various nations.

Wasn't there a fourth?

The courier says, "You should each make your ways to Budapest separately, we do not wish to tip our hand."

He then hands you some more documentation:

Suggested Equipment
Each agent will have a $500.00 agency voucher for equipment
and a $2,000.00 expense account for travelling costs. Some
suggested equipment includes:
Weapons: Sporting rifle (with entry permit) which can be broken
down to a pistol by removing the stock and the barrel
extension. (Weapon code: rifle - n, pistol - d
Hunting knife (Weapon code: jj), also with permit
(Other types of weapons a(e not likely to be allowed in; anyone
in possession of unauthorized or non-sporting firearms will be
subject to the results of the WEAPONS CHECK REACTION
TABLE given in the BORDER CROSSING section.
Disguised Equipment: Radios, bugging detectors, cameras,
and similar devices will pass inspection if they are disguised
as watches, pens, and similar tourist articles.
Transistorradios, tape recorders, calculators and similar
personal electronic devices are commonly passed and
can be built with additional concealed functions.

TRAVEL INFORMATION ON HUNGARY
Hungary imposes a number of entry and travel restrictions on
tourists from non-socialist countries. In order to help your cover
as tourists, please study this information and note that people
you may encounter while on this mission who disregard or do
not know this information may be foreign agents. This is standard
information for all visitors to the Hungarian People's Republic
(Magyar Nepkoztarsasag).

All persons entering Hungary must have a valid passport with a
valid visa, except citizens of Austria, Finland, and socialist countries.

Visas may be obtained at Hungarian embassies abroad or
at border checkpoints and are valid for six months. Citizens of
non-socialist countries must report to local authorities within
24 hours of arriving at their destinations. Visas can be renewed
within 48 hours of their expiration. A transit visa allows a tourist
to pass through the country, providing that the tourist leaves in a
location differing from the point of entry. Transit visas are valid
for 48 hours.

No formalities are required to bring in travel necessities or gifts
valued at 5,000 forints or less. Unprescribed narcotics, publications
that are immoral or offensive to the socialist order, weapons.
and explosives are prohibited. Hunting and sports guns
and ammunition require special permits. Commodities of commercial
nature or quantity that cannot be handled by customs
must either be taken back by the visitor or surrendered to the
customs office for sale.

Foreigners are required to declare all currency carried in. No
more than 1 OOforints in coin may be brought in; sums in excess
of this amount must be deposited with officials. There is no limit
on the amount of foreign currency which may be brought in.
Request a certificate of value for all imported currency.

Cars must be registered with border authorities upon entering
the country, Fuel can only be brought in and taken out in a
vehicle's gas tank. Spare fuel cans are not allowed. Speed limits
are 60 kph in towns and cities. 80 kph on highways and 100 kph
on expressways. Any trace of alcohol consumption incurs suspension
of license and heavy fines. Police must be notified in
case of an accident resulting in heavy damage or injury.
The agency will provide you with all the necessary travel documents,
made out to the cover identities you select. The Administrator
for your mission will brief you on the procedures and
requirements for making border crossings.

Yes, but I haven't seen any posts from them since. Someone else wanted to join SI recently, the new BH player, why not give the slot to them?

Everyone choose their equipment? Once you have describe how you make your way to Budapest and the hotel.

The courier takes down the ideas you requested and left your safe house and went somewhere to get them taken care of.

He returns and says as he hands you each a manila folder, "The Shoemakers were able to do a bang up job on your request. Learn your Legend and become it. The Competition from both the KGB and AVB are to be expected. Hungary is not as tight as some of the other Warsaw bloc countries but remember Moscow Rules should be in effect and remember Murphy is always a factor."

He then says, "A courier from the Nuts and Bolts should be here shortly."

Medicine, 145: 1d100 ⇒ 75 Succeeded by 70

Svetlana reads off a cocktail of drugs in specific mixtures. "I need his medical history too, to ensure that won't damage him."

For her equipment, she requests :

9mm P-08 German Luger (350)
Silencer (50)
Casual Outfit (50)
Counterfeit Money 500 (50)

Man, $500 cant' even outfit anyone

Personal Gear
Bulletproof Vest (175)
International First Aid Kit (No price listed)
Surgery Tools (No price listed)

She only wants the gun/silencer if it can be provided at destination, she doesn't want to try to take it through customs, counterfeit money should be in a false bottom case

Sylar flies to Japan to switch identities. Then flies to Italy, travels by train to Yugoslavia, then into Hungary and Budapest.

Svetlana flies to Moscow, switches Identities, then takes a plane to Hungary, and a taxi to Budapest, and changes to her EMT persona, keeping her Police persona in reserve for the exit from the country.

April flies to West Berlin and switches identities to an American exploring her German heritage. She then takes a train through Austria into Hungary. She plans to do some site seeing, including a visit to some of the thermal spas she has heard of, and is interested in doing some hunting.

Trying to change identities at Sheremetovo Airport in 1980, that takes gall.

The group of you make your own way to the hotel in Budapest on the night before to check in to the hotel. Inside your hotel rooms, you find the Lerekhov knot where it was told to you in the briefing as well underneath it is an envelope containing a floor plan of the hotel and tickets for the city tour of Budapest for the next morning. There is also a map of Budapest and of the Danube Island in more detail.

As agreed upon, you meet each other in the hotel bar for a night cap.

Yes, but as long as it works, coming from Moscow makes it 10 times easier to infiltrate Budapest, as you're coming from Moscow, nobody sneaks in from Moscow. :) And given Svetlana speaks Russian like a native (given her parents *were* natives, and she has a lot of cultural knowledge), it's something she can do that nobody else can.

Did Svetlana's cover as an EMT come through? As in, she's actually on the pay of the event as an EMT?

True and false, It may be 10 times easier to sneak into Budapest from Moscow but it is about 40 times more difficult to get into Moscow. Yes, you were able to get assigned to the medical detail for the conference. You have a package in your hotel when you arrive with the proper uniform.

Svetlana leaves the uniform for tomorrow, and makes sure her credentials are all matching and correct. The fake credentials she hides in her first aid pack in the false bottom. She checks over the EMT case, confirming the drugs she requested are inside, all labeled as things that are expected, but with little colored dots to indicate they aren't what they are labeled as. She spends an hour carefully mixing the drug cocktails, making two different formulations while leaving the enough drugs to make a third and fourth if needed. She wants to get some medical background before injecting him, if possible, to further tailor it to him, if need be. So far, the other two hadn't come up with anything in the way of plans. Hopefully they had, or else it was injection and fake death.

When she comes down to the bar, she takes a seat at the bar and orders a bloody mary, wearing a dress that shows off her figure without making her look like a working girl. If hit upon by anyone not her team, she allows herself to be bought a drink, and gives her cover story about being an EMT here for the game conference.

Sylar made a quick glance around the room, nothing obvious to tie him to anything other than what he arrived as, a businessman on a trip. He preferred to leave the clandestine tools to his companions as he gave himself a once over in the mirror before heading for the bar.

Sylar paused for a moment at the entrance to the bar and gave the room a once over before heading for the end of the bar, in German A dreher bak, please.

Sylar watches the patrons of the bar through the mirror along the back as he sips the Hungarian beer.

The bartender looks at the man and says, "Das Bier von Dreher heisst jetzt Kobanyai. Sie sehen nicht so alt aus, dass Sie die alte Markenname kennen. Kobanyai Bak kriegen Sie. Weswegen sind Sie hier, Mein Herr?
German

The bartender responds, "What is a bloody Mary?"

Svetlana eyes the bartender. In Russian "Are you new to the job? This is drink that has been famous for 40 years or more!" She snaps, then sighs. "Cover the bottom of the shaker with four large dashes salt, two dashes black pepper, two dashes cayenne pepper, add layer of Worcestershire sauce. Add dash of lemon juice and then cracked ice, put in two ounces vodka and two ounces thick tomato juice, shake, strain, and pour." She tells him how to make what should be a common drink, given it was created in the late 20's early 30's and made famous by Hemingway across the globe in the 40's, and has been a staple in bars all over the world since the 1950's.

April puts her things in her room, with the rifle under her bed, and looks over the items left for her. She freshens up a bit from her travel and then heads down to the bar. She finds a seat at a table (with her back to the wall if possible) and orders a red wine. As she sips her wine, she casually glances around the room. When she hears Svetlana speaking Russian, she tries to listen in on the conversation.

Russian(40): 1d100 ⇒ 71 I don't know what the modifiers would be but I doubt it matters with that roll.

I don't think you have to roll to get the gist of general conversation. Especially bar level conversation. :) It's not like we're discussing internal organs or chemistry.

The three of you have your drinks and trying to keep you cover, do not make any contact and try to get through as much jetlag as possible.
You wake up and do what your cover entails.

Svetlana follows her cover at the convention sitting off to the side watching the convention. Different puzzles are explained in varying levels of confidence in Russian, German and Hungarian.

Sylar sits with the Nintendo delegation the older staffers give him a nod but some of the younger ones seem to be in bewilderment of who exactly he is. Listening to the different kinds of puzzles and games on offer in the Commbloc.

April has a lot more fun on the city tour of Budapest, taking in the fisherman's bastion, chain bridge, the Buda castles as well as all of the other sites for the first day's tour. The tour is in German and it is pretty detailed but obviously has a leftist slant than you would think the city tour should really have but you almost cannot wait until the next day to see the rest of the city.

The night before, Svetlana walks the entire hotel floor, including the Employee Only areas, familiarizing herself with the layout, and everywhere she can. If asked by anyone what she's doing there, she shows her EMT credentials and explains she's assigned as the EMT for tomorrow's show, and is making sure she knows the hotels layout backwards and forwards, so she knows where everywhere is, in case she is called on tomorrow, as seconds could mean life or death in an emergency, and getting lost is a lousy reason for someone to die. If pressed why she'd be in an employee only area, her response is employees may have issues as well, and besides, she's been at enough conventions to know people always go in the employee areas when they shouldn't.

The next day, she not only sits, but routinely does a round of the floor to make sure she's limber and not stiff, carrying her emergency pack with her. She also keeps an eye out for the target.

Perception: 1d100 ⇒ 13

Sylar smiles and involves himself occasionally in the conversation with the other Nintendo representatives to set his cover and be noticed.

That evening he reviewed and memorized the hotel floor plans before tearing it up into small pieces and flushing it. He didn't want anything untoward in his room.

The next morning he headed for the tour.

April returns from her tour, stopping at the shops across the street from the hotel so see what is there. She then walks through the park to get familiar with the area. She pauses for some time at the fountain, facing the construction site so she can study the construction site.

From the map, it appears to be a building. How far along is the construction? Is it just the skeleton or are there walls? How many floors are there? What type of fence is around the site?

She then returns to her room to freshen up and check for messages, then wanders around the hotel trying to get a peek into some of the meeting rooms. If she is stopped, she says she is a guest in the hotel and was just wondering what was going on.

Once she has completed that, she finds a seat in the lobby where she can see who is coming in and out of the hotel while she looks over some of the brochures she received from the tour.

She finishes her evening with dinner in the restaurant terrace and a drink at the bar, all the while keeping her eyes open for the target or any suspicious looking people.

Friday 2:50 PM

You make your way back to your room from either the conference or the city tour and underneath Lerekhov's knot puzzle you see a small envelop with two photographs inside. One is a picture of a man with bushy side burns but not shaped enough to be considered mutton chops on the back side of the picture is written in pencil "Lerekhov". And another picture is a man in his mid forties and on the side is written the word "Orseg"
Hungarian Your Language Roll or under

Photos

PLease tell me where you want to go in the hotel.

Is the language roll for those who speak Hungarian?

April studies the pictures so she will be able to identify the men if she sees them. She then goes to the second floor to see if she can wander into one of the meeting rooms.

Sylar heads back to down to the lounge and looks for a publication he can read. He grabs a seat that gives him a view of the lobby and orders a coffee.

Hi, I was having a mild issue with my Acrobat reader, so I should be able to do a post tonight. BTw, could you provide me with the map reference to make it easier to figure out where you want to go. There are 9 floors in the hotel. Thanks!

Sorry for the delay, I had to give up on Adobe and went to Nitro...

April

Sylar

April

Svetlana

Is that last spoiler for Svetlana or April? Svetlana posted she was maintaining her cover at the expo, and patroling the public areas keeping an eye open for the target. Did she see anything? The target, the body guard, anything?

It was for April, well you didn't know what the target looked like until afterwards. Under the knot you got the photograph. Yes, your character after seeing the photograph had seen the man and the guard at the expo, but they were two people among many. The key here is to see if his intentions are to defect or not. SO where do you want to check out now the expo is out for the day?

I assume things like registrations etc are paper given the year? If so...

Svetlana pinches her cheeks in the bathroom to redden them up, and then approaches one of the hotel employees, someone who works at the front desk, when they step away and she can get them alone. In Russian. "There was a man who was attractive at the expo, and he had the most wonderful eyes. I was hoping you might be able to slip me his room number so I could go see if he was just looking at me to be looking at me, or he was actually interested." She asks, while holding a local monetary note folded in her fingers, worrying it as if it were a nervous habit.

GM Rolls

@April, before you are able to go onto another part of the convention rooms, a man wearing the uniform of Hotel security makes his way over to you and says first in Hungarian and then in Russian, seeing that you can understand that language and showing his ID card, "Good afternoon, my name is Mor Orlesz a member of hotel security. It is to a certain modicum of embarassment for me to request that you stay alert because there has been an uptick in room thefts recently."

@ Sylar, a group of Czechoslovak tourists decide to speak in front of you and they then ask for you to do them a favor in Czech, then Russian and then German to take a picture of them together.

@SV, the man at the front desk says in Russian as he eyes the crisp Westdeutschmark Schein in your hand, "Tovarisha, would you be able to tell me what this man looks like or his name?"

Svetlana smiles dreamily, staring past the man's shoulder, as if looking at an imaginary person. "Mmm, he had dreamy eyes, brown, he was about 35 or 40, he was wearing a suit..." She goes on to describe the man decently but not perfectly, to avoid giving anything away. "I think I heard someone call him Mr. Lorik, or Mr. Lavrik, but it was crowded and noisy, so I could have misheard."

I don't think we got a full on desc of him in the thread, if we did, change the eyes, hair, age etc to match the correct description

Sylar plays dumb about knowing he can speak Russian or German but has no problem recognizing a camera or gestures.

He stands and after a quick look around the area will pose them and take a few snap shots. He'll try to get the guy sipping coffee into the background of at least one of the pictures, just to see if there is a reaction.

@SV: The receptionist goes through his notes and says, "Wait a moment." and then steps back to the counter and looks through the register book.

He says, "I don't have anyone listed under that name or any other German name beginning with the Latin letter "L." Would you happen to be able to describe his haircut? By the way, it is very odd that so many of your countrymen are staying at the hotel this weekend."

SP: The Czechs look very confused that anyone wouldn't be able to speak one of the East Bloc languages especially Russian. But they make their poses. The man reading the newspaper sits there continuing to read his paper.

AT: The man says in Russian, "When we allow the filthy, archaic imperialist element into Socialist countries it is difficult to avoid. Luckily, we only permit this to occur once a year. Stay vigilant and feel free to contact me Tovarisha! My office is in room 605."