Money In the Backline (A GFL Quest)

Big wide world's a hell of a place, especially after most of it caught fire.

That whole mess with the alien Collapse Fluid, rendering vast swathes uninhabitable and cutting the world in two. Rising sea levels, choking the coastlines and reducing liveable land even further. Then World War Three inevitably happening, which did at least solve the overpopulation problem… by turning it into an underpopulation problem instead.

You'd say you had a promising career in the military at that point, but honestly most people did for as long as they remained alive. Human lives had finally became a little too precious a commodity to keep spending like water; by those days, everyone had robots for the meatgrinders instead.

With the war done, you resigned. Figured you'd do something other than military; find some other purpose in life… and you failed. Looking back, you're not even sure what you were expecting; your childhood home a ruin and sunken beneath the waves. No, all you had was that experience in the military, and that experience drew the eye of Griffin & Kryuger, the paramilitary company.

You don't actually regret it.

It's been a fun string of years and missions; protection details, land clearance, evacuation coverage. The odd assassination here and there. Typical PMC work, whilst what was left of the old nationstates rebuilt and reorganised themselves. You even got to see the evolution of the robot Dolls firsthand, and what a sight that's proving to see.

Still… wide world's a hell of a place, and quite a bit of it is still on fire. Sangvis Ferri, for instance.

What in the hell went wrong enough to set every single SF developed Doll off on a homicidal rampage is beyond you, and beyond your paygrade, but sadly not beyond Griffin & Kryuger's borders of operations. Keeping the murderous bastards at bay is pushing everyone hard.

But most of all it's pushing the pocketbooks. G&K is a company, not a government with the power to raise taxes. You need income, and the SF don't obligingly pay you to shoot them. So, per your new transfer orders, that's where you'll come in.

Or- are coming in. It's… the place where you're supposed to er- you're supposed to fix it. Lead some people with guns about and try to make enough money doing it to pay the exorbitant costs of a robot war the KCCO is barely paying attention to in their own backyard. Because everything in your resume so clearly made you out as a budding economist with an eye for numbers.

Christ this is going to be a complete disaster...

MISERY LOVES COMPANY
Congratulations, you won't be alone on this merry financial ride to hell! Select one old friend of yours to drag down with you serve as your adjutant:

[ ] Boris
Boris is a man who adopts kittens. He tends to tiny shrubberies with tweezers and scissors. You have, personally, experienced the sight of him baking muffins at six in the morning wearing a pink apron and matching bunny slippers.

He still utterly intimidates you.

A giant of a man, his cold, scarred face matches his cold, scarred eyes. A man of few words, but perhaps it is that so few words are needed, when so much can be conveyed in a single glare. Suffice to say, the operation will be more efficient with him around.

The muffins are delicious, for the record.

+Efficiency, +Logistics, +Random Muffins, Springfield Envy

[ ] Jovanović
Somehow, Jovanović is always awake.

He is awake in the mornings, he is awake in the evenings. You have dragged yourself along with caffeine through night-ops missions gone boring and Jovanović has been awake then, still silently scribbling down your orders in shorthand on his little pad of paper and glaring at random walls.

Those dark rings under his eyes neither increase or decrease. You've seen a picture of his high-school graduation album and have started to wonder if they were simply present since birth. He prefers to keep his mouth shut over talking wherever possible… though given the inevitable insults that drop out whenever his mouth is open, that's probably a survival strategy. Another possible cause for the black eyes, that.

He is, without a doubt, one of the smartest, most intelligent and capable officers you've ever met. You still want to hand him a pillow, tuck him into bed and order him to get some sleep, the cranky bastard.

+Night Ops, +Intel, +Trauma To Certain 404 Squad Members

[ ] Alex
Alex claims to be an Australian. You're still not entirely sure if you believe him. The man is sober, expresses great interest in fashion and has thus far failed to punch a single wild animal. His accent is also blatantly Italian, which hardly helps his case.

Alex's major hobby is collection, specifically that of people. Names, numbers, contacts, he has them all, all stored and retrieved with perfect clarity from within that well-coiffed noggin of his.

Need a job that can be completed on nothing but a remote drone, a half-empty anti-tank rifle and some chewing gum? Alex knows a guy. Need some cheap auxiliaries and contract work whilst your main teams are having their legs glued back together? Alex knows a guy. Need a three-piece white pinstripe suit fitting a 4'3 midget concealing a 12-gauge shotgun? Alex doesn't know a guy, but he has something in his wardrobe. Alex knows a lot of people.

With Alex on base, you can always be sure you'll always have a job to do, and better yet, you'll get to do it in style.

+Missions, +Military Contacts, +Actual Sense Of Fashion (FAL may never forgive this)

So. A small, money-making outfit that needs to do what G&K does best; hand robots guns and make other people pay them for it. Classical PMC work is the name of the game; guard jobs, rescue jobs, bodyguarding, 'black books' missions…

All this would be considerably easier to plan around if all the competent people weren't stuck beating the Sangvis around the head instead of making the company fistfuls of cold, hard cash like they're supposed to. Any T-Dolls fresh off IOP's factory floors are going straight to the Sangvis front; you're going to have to take whatever scraps you can get.

Luckily, you still have options. Less luckily, this giant stack of intel briefs on your new desk is very, very precarious.

COMPANIES LOVE MISERY
Time to decide on your initial starting forces. These forces can be mixed and matched together once you get them, but for now: pick any three.

[ ] Embargo Squad
In the aftermath of the Beilan Island incident and WWIII, there are a great many places unfit for any form of habitation. Of these, there is none greater and none more infamous than the Second Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. An area so corrupted, irradiated and hazardous only androids are ever sent in there. From operations to maintenance staff; the SCEZ is T-Dolls all the way down.
The Embargo Squad is one such group, one of G&K's many contributions to the KCCO quarantine. Older models, but with years of experience fighting down all things known to man – and more than a few things not. They're supposed to be on leave after major repair and hardware refits, but here they are signing back on for light mercenary work instead. You wonder what exactly counts as a T-Doll's 'vacation'.
- Regular forces unit (13 Dolls; Rifles, Handguns, ARs and SMGs, all with Dummy Links)
- Older models, some upgrades but largely outdated, considerable combat experience against non-human enemies
- Intel dossier is worryingly vague about when they last interacted with actual humans...

[ ] Foxtrot Team
A specialist G&K team specifically geared towards bodyguarding and counter-assassination work, with a storied history of celebrities, generals and politicians they've rubbed shoulders and dragged behind cover with. They know how to dress, laugh and socialise, and for the sake of countering such tactics, know how to hack, poison, assassinate and infiltrate. What a happy, happy coincidence you are certain no-one has ever taken advantage of.
Most of the intel briefings you get on your squad options are dossiers, multiple files thick. Theirs is an emailed document totalling up to all of three pages, focusing primarily on weapons, personalities and equipment and reading more like a product catalogue than an internal memo. This team is officially suspicious as all hell and you've no idea why they're even crossing your desk in the first place.
You suspect you don't want to know.
- Small, light forces unit (5-Doll Rifle and Handgun team)
- Mix of models, largely older but kept well up-to-date on hardware
- Well socialised, experts in acting in crowded urban environments
- Friends and contacts in high places
- Very specialised, niche
-...What exactly is Foxtrot doing here?

[ ] Amber Team
Not all purpose-built T-Dolls go to the military and PMCs. Quite a few actually go into police and emergency services… though most of those stay there or retire as civilians rather than opt to go for paramilitary work. Making this new bunch, a group of riot cops who have decided to leave en-mass to join Griffin & Kryuger instead, all the more curious.
There's a story there. There's a story, and it isn't being mentioned in your intel dossier. You sincerely hope they'll prove forthcoming. Intel brief calls them 'honest and blunt', for what that might be worth. Looking their old precinct up, there's no smoking gun, no obvious 'this incident is what made the entire Nowy Lublin police department's heavy T-Doll complement up and leave'. Whatever happened, it hasn't happened publicly.
- Entirely shotguns, with Dummy Links
- 5 SWAT / policework models; will need some minor hardware/software updates to match G&K protocols and remove some police-model combat restrictions but otherwise ready to go
- Familiar with law enforcement and interacting with ordinary civilians, albeit from a police officer's perspective
- Unbloodied; new to Griffin and mercenary work in general

[ ] Balalaika Squad
You are… genuinely baffled as to what exactly this team is doing here. A group of Russian A-Dolls, signing up for T-Doll conversion, with prior work experience being… carers and hospital staff, from a hospital with an excellent reputation for quality of treatments and patient care. Dossier says they 'wanted a change of pace'.
For once the intel brief is actually full this time; reading up, it looks like they've all been laid off in favour of more modern medical models; being legally classed as 'equipment' they're not exactly subject to Russian labour laws. Or to quote one of the dolls' interviews: "We just really want to shoot things right now."
...Okay then.
- Ten as-yet unconverted A-Dolls; roles to be assigned
- Green troops
- Ex-hospital staff, so theoretically social...ised...?
- Medical knowledge useful for evacuation work
- Worryingly enthusiastic

[ ] The Scrapheap Challengers
G&K has been using IOP-produced T-Dolls since its inception; whilst you can't get the military license models for obvious reasons, their civilian market T-Dolls come with a few notable quirks. In particular, the ability to quickly and very easily decommission an active-service T-Doll into an A-Doll and allow them to retire into a civilian life.
By this point in the G&K - IOP partnership, this 'lifecycle' has gone on for some time. Long enough, in fact, for there to be retired veterans who have decided they would actually quite like to go back to the paramilitary life. You can relate.
Still, this is a bunch of older models other commanders have chosen to let go; you're quite literally dealing with somebody else's leftovers here. They might be eager, but quality is going to vary.
- Old model civ-converted T-Dolls; three ex-submachine guns, two ex-handguns, two ex-assault rifles
- Purpose-built T-Dolls converted over to civilian A-Dolls, now requesting to be converted back again. In theory, it's pretty much 'plug in the control core and hand them their weapon again' and they're good to go. In theory.
- They were considered outdated at the time they were retired, they're certainly far below the curve by now. God knows how many updates it will take for them to reach even the minimum standards.
- Some of these interview responses read as very… carefully worded. There's some bitterness here, you can tell.

[ ] IOP Tactical Prototype Set 17
...You wondered if you were going to get foisted with one of these. A test squadron of one of IOP's in-development military product lines. They get passed around from time to time, Griffin & Kryuger in particular with their ties to 16Lab. That's not a statement on quality; they're passed around a lot to ensure their development teams have as broad a set of testing data as possible.
On paper, they certainly sound like powerhouses, but you've no idea how long you'll be able to hold onto them for. Not to mention, prototypes are prototypes for a reason; you're not exactly talking finished products here. On the positive side, having a dozen 16Lab R&D technicians or sounds decidedly beneficial whilst you're getting things going, and damn if that Hydra isn't going to look impressive in a sales pitch. Assuming the bloody thing works.
- Heavy infantry unit (20 armoured military-variant T-Dolls of all roles, Dummy Linked, 1 Hydra support tank)
- Can basically mulch anything
- Temporary loan
- They're military models. You doubt they're even capable of socialisation
- Probably inevitable technical issues

[ ] Independence Team
Good lordy how did this lot get in. You very nearly passed right over them – you are distinctly not interested in hiring robot maids – but then you caught a glimpse of their file and...
"Originally house-keeping property of undisclosed ruler of undisclosed country." Okay.
"Typical tasks involved maintenance, housekeeping and security for private estate." Standard enough.
"Leaked financial details to Interpol using unpatched exploits in their systems programming to work around loyalty protocols." That's a bit-
"Lead subversive and terrorist activities in the overthrow of unspecified monarch." Um.
"Fled country in aftermath of successful coup. Successfully incited minor rebellions in two neighbouring dictator states. Pursued by Interpol across three neighbouring dictator states." Um.
"Held ceremony to have maid outfits ritually burnt upon induction to Griffin & Kryuger." What even-
Now they're… here, in G&K. Not arrested. Offering to work for you. Very politely.
- Seven technically unconverted A-Dolls and assorted Dummy Links. No assigned roles
- Almost certainly black-market modified to some degree or another
- Literally ex-terrorists
- Top tier tea service

[ ] Freshman Team
After all the others this lot seems utterly normal. Positively pedestrian. Certified civilian. You are immediately and justifiably suspicious in every possible way.
An assembled group of Civilian A-Dolls from all walks of life; ex-retail here, a former old folks home carer there, one ex-sushi chef you assume to be very capable with knives. Each decided to join Griffin and Kryuger individually; they're here as a group courtesy of the Android Resources department lumping them all in as a single unit. No standout red flags, no suspiciously sparse intelligence briefs, no obvious red tape or possible ties back to any governmental organisations.
Just a small group of former bakers, postal workers, teaching assistants and bartenders.
What could such innocence be hiding.
- 17 Unconverted A-Dolls; no role assignments
- Will need quite a number of upgrades to reach T-Doll standards; some may prove incompatible
- Completely green troops
- Presumably socialised; ex-civilians
- Deeply suspicious

Expedition Arms
A Griffin & Kryuger subsidiary company

Profits Made: +4 over 1 turns

Base:
Converted Mall (plenty of rooms)
Helipad
1x Repair Bay

Teams Available:
Amber Team
5SG, former riot police. Limited action vs humanoid targets.
Professional In A Different Profession, Socialized, Unfamiliar With PMCs

Foxtrot Team
3HG/2RF 'Bodyguarding' / Wetworks team
Professional, Socialized, Veterans

Independence Team
2HG/2AR/2SMG multi-role team
"Socialised", The Robot Revolution Will Be Very Polite, Five-Fingered Discounts

Vehicle Pool:
1x Obsolete BTR-80
Assorted civilian vehicles

Notable Contacts:
Berezovich Kryuger, founder of Griffin & Kryuger

Mission History:
Witness Protection in Fort Gomel (Amber Team, minor success)
Security Detail in Daugavpils (Foxtrot Team, success)