The first interlude. Most interludes will cover things outside the game.
Stalker Online
Interlude One:
Pyrrhic Victory
D+3
Detective Masuo Kobayashi of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau was waiting for a call.
The last few days had been hectic. His department, the Public Security Bureau, was primarily in charge of investigating cybercrime and conducting counter-terrorism operations. The STALKER Online Incident as it had been first dubbed the media and quickly picked up in general parlance was a nightmare of a case to work and easily one of the worst cybercrimes ever committed. There was even serious debate to declare it terrorism even though the motives were yet unknown.
The death toll shot past the three hundred mark this morning and preparations were beginning to try move the victims into newly prepared locations so they could more easily be monitored by medical personnel. It was a difficult task however, fraught with danger and unknown.
The investigation was running into bureaucratic hurdles as Japan lacked a national level policing agency. Yes, there was the National Police Agency, but the NPA lacked any operational forces of its own; it was just an administrative organ.
So, the task of coordinating the national police response to the crisis fell on the shoulders of Japan's largest police department: the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and fore fronted by their Public Security Bureau whose main tasks were counter-terrorism and cybercrime.
This was compounded by the fact the Incident was not limited just to Japan or Japanese nationals. Despite the statement by the developer that the game was supposed to initially only be available in Japan, some people from South Korea and China had managed to get a hold of a copy and – using a VPN – spoofed their IP address. Others had flown to Japan just to take part in what was thought to be a defining moment in videogaming – it would still be a defining moment, just for all thee wrong reasons. Others caught up included several members of United States Forces Japan, further complicating the matter.
They had already managed to unofficially bring in the Self-Defence Force's cyber-"defence" signals units to back them up and help them deal with the deluge of signals intelligence they needed to sort through. This morning – shortly after the morning's casualty report – they had managed to match up an IP address that was connected to the STALKER Online servers to a property connected to Akihiko Kayaba through the man's ex-girlfriend.
They were certain Kayaba was still connected to the STALKER Online servers and manipulating the game world in whatever grand plan the man had presumably cooked up. Catching him was key to figuring out what he had done and stopping this mess in its tracks.
The phone rang, and Masuo picked it up.
"Sir, I got the warrant," said the voice of his prosecutor, Touma Goto.
"Thankyou," he replied before hanging up and dialling a new number.
Special Unit – Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's assault team – had been on standby since they had gotten the intelligence in anticipation of the warrant. It was simply a matter of calling ahead so they could make final preparations and the detective met them down at the carpark, hitching a ride with them to the target building.
The armoured vans of Special Unit ran with lights and sirens on, quickly allowing them to navigate through the busy Tokyo traffic, but as they got close to the supposedly abandoned home near the edge of the metropolis they turned them off as to not give themselves away.
Masuo made a final call.
"What's the situation, Sergeant?" he asked.
"Clear, sir, no activity in the home I can see from street level," replied the calm voice of Sergeant Fujita. "Whoever is inside has no idea we're coming."
"Good, we'll be there in a few moments," he replied before hanging up.
Coming around the corner he could see the building he'd seen in the photos that morning. A silver hatchback was parked at the other end of the street and he could see the female figure of Sergeant Fujita in plain clothes stepping out of it.
The suspect building was run down and a typical example of a post-war home with two levels. The homes on either side and the rest of the street were little better. Pulling up in front of the house, the men and women of Special Unit quickly piled out of the three armoured vans. By the time he got out of the vehicle himself their pointman was already swinging his battering ram, striking the door near the three locks.
The door cracked but did not give way. Undeterred, the pointman gave the door another good solid hit, shattering the door around the locks, and the team poured into the building.
"Front room clear!" called a voice on the right as he stepped through the front door.
"Dining room clear!" called another.
The first voice called out again: "Kitchen, stairs clear!"
"Ground floor clear. Move up the stairs!" called the Special Unit commander.
The man on point walked up the split-level staircases backwards with his rifle up, enabling him to cover himself from a potential threat at the top of the stairs. When he had enough height to see the floor at the top was clear he motioned for his second to follow him up who covered him as he proceeded the rest of the way to the top.
"Stairs clear!"
Part of the team split of to guard the bottom floor while the rest and Detective Kobayashi followed.
Each room on this level was behind an interior door which they had no trouble kicking down.
"Sir, we got something!"
Following the commander into the largest room on the top floor, Masuo was shocked to find a figure on a hospital bed surrounded by medical equipment. The figure was wearing a NerveGear helmet no different than the example they had in their office on day one and was hooked up to what looked a bit like some sort of medical monitoring equipment and a large rack of various IV fluids. Closer inspection revealed the bags were computer controlled.
The figure was unmoving but clasped in its hand was an envelope. Masuo pushed through the small crowd of Special Unit officers and picked the letter up before opening it.
If you remove me they will die.
If you tamper with the helmet, the monitoring equipment or my computer, they will die.
You will be given a half-hour window to move the players. I will contact you with the details shortly. You will follow my precise directions during that time or they will die.
There is nothing you can do to change what will happen. Do not try me.
It was difficult to reconcile the fact they had their perpetrator in their hands, yet Akihiko Kayaba was so far away.
181102 - Minor rewording.
