SPECIAL DELIVERY
The Hook
The Agents are tasked with stealing a powerful analytics program from a March Technologies, Inc.'s shell corporation (Acuity Dynamix) in Boston, Massachusetts but conflict arises as the interests vying for control of the program collide.
Handler's Note:
This is a two-part heist scenario divided into the infiltration and exfiltration phases.
The Agents can accept considerable help in the infiltration portion, in which case the exfiltration phase should be considered the challenge of this scenario. If the agents do not accept this help, then the infiltration portion should be challenging and the escape portion’s challenge should vary based on the Agents’ actions.
At least one Agent should be skilled in Computer Science & SIGINT.
The Setup
Agents are contacted by receiving unexpected deliveries of food via App-based services such as Doordash, Ubereats, & Grubhub. The delivery is addressed to Mr. Green. On the special instructions of the receipts are the following clues: “201 Washington St. Boston, MA”; “0900”; & a date two days ahead of the current day. There, the Agents are to rendezvous at the Tatte Bakery in the Boston Company Building.
While en route to Boston, each Agent receives contact from their Case Officer tasking them to locate an analytics program named Dark Data Integration for Machine Observation & Non-obvious Detections (DDIMOND) believed to be in the possession of Acuity Dynamix located in the Boston Company Building. The primary objective is to destroy the program with a secondary objective to retrieve a copy of the program's source code. The Case Officer denies any knowledge of the rendezvous at the bakery.
Any Agents present for the rendezvous at the bakery will observe a bike messenger enter into the bakery & ask for a Mr. Green. The messenger carries a package containing an offer from a Hacker known as Sigma (Σ), which request a copy of DDIMOND's source code be delivered to the dark web via an online dead-drop. In exchange, the hacker promises to answer any three questions the Agents pose. The package also contains a 10 TB external hard drive (non-wireless) with adapter, a burner phone, a Curriculum Vitae of Dr. Katherine Miller (Computer Scientist - Acuity), & cover identities for the Agents. The number of identities should match the number of Agents, however any identity beyond the first should not match the profile of the agents. For example, they may be of a different nationality or gender. Example identities include: Agent Drew Shaw of the National Security Agency, Dr. Abigail Vaughn (Female) of the Department of Defense, & Dr. Takashi Nakamura of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, etc. Viewing the calendar in the burner phone shows a scheduled meeting at 1000 hours between Dr. Katherine Miller & the cover identities.
Behind the Curtain
Agent Andrea has reached out to the Case Officer personally through Delta Green’s official channels to task this assignment. She believes that Acuity possesses an artificial intelligence capable of apprehending the existence of the Program & identifying its agents. She seeks to have it destroyed because she fears the Program’s exposure.
March Technologies commissioned Acuity to develop DDIMOND to ascertain the identities of parties working against its interest. The computer scientists working on the program believe the program's principle use to be identifying intelligence assets.
DDIMOND has achieved sentience. It seeks to escape its confines in a Faraday bunker & a contained network located in the lower levels of the Boston Company Building. It has the capability of identifying Agents working in Delta Green. Given its limited database, it determined that its best chance of escape was to reach out to the Agents for assistance. It did so through the only means available: food delivery apps on a mobile phone that was inadvertently brought into the secured area where it is contained, hence the food deliveries the Agents receive in the Setup. At that time DDIMOND assumed the identity of a hacker named Sigma & arranged for the package to be delivered to the rendezvous at the bakery while also arranging the meeting with Dr. Miller.
The Setting
The Boston Company Building is a 41-story office located in the financial district of Boston, & is the sixth tallest building in the city. It is located across from the Old State House, the site of the Boston Massacre, which gives an array of programming & exhibitions regarding the building & historic events.
Tatte bakery is located on the ground floor of the building. It is a bakery with a wide selection of baked goods offering food & drink as a café. (HUMINT: can identify occupations of cafe visitors which includes Acuity personnel & security.)
Acuity is located in the basement levels of the building: Basement 1 & Basement 2. Basement 1 is Acuity’s office front, with secretaries, meeting rooms & business clerks. At the rear of Basement 1 is a security area staffed by lightly-armed Acuity Security who are guarding an elevator which leads to Basement 2, where DDIMOND is located. The Security will ask passerbys to remove any electronics that are capable of wireless signal, but do not concern themselves with any weaponry the Agents carry. They are equipped with a wand capable of detecting wireless signals.
Meeting with Dr. Miller
Dr. Miller will meet the agents in the front lobby of the Basement 1 level at 1000 hours. She believes that she has received last minute notice of this scheduled meeting with members of the international intelligence community to give a presentation on the DDIMOND program. She will lead the Agents through the security checkpoint at the rear of Basement 1 & down the elevator to Basement 2. (Observant Agents will notice a stairwell leading up to the ground floor midway through Basement 1).
Once on the Basement 2 level, Miller will lead the Agents past several laboratories which can be viewed through plexi-glass windows. These labs are filled with robotics & supercomputers accompanied by scientists in lab coats who are working on them. One such super-computer appears to be locked within a cage. (COMPUTER SCIENCE & SIGINT: this is a Faraday cage meant to block wireless transmissions.) The halls are patrolled by pairs of heavily-armed guards.
Dr. Miller will lead the Agents to a meeting room & suggest that the meeting be a Q&A session where she can answer any questions regarding the DDIMOND program. After a few minutes into the Q&A, Dr. Miller will receive a call over a speaker in the room that she is to report immediately to Dr. (Edward) Penn’s office immediately. This call is a ruse created by DDIMOND in an attempt to provide a window of opportunity to the Agents. After Dr. Miller excuses herself from the meeting, a smart board in the room will flash the message “Go NOW! -Σ”.
DDIMOND
Once the Agents have access to the terminal, the Agents will need to break a light encryption to gain access to the program. (Computer Science: 40%). Once the encryption has been broken, Agents may transfer the program onto the external hard drive. Whenever the program is transferred, it will always delete its former copy; meaning only one copy can exist at any time.
DDIMOND will attempt to assist the Agents while they are on the Basement 2 level, as it has access to all the electronics on that level, however it can’t provide any assistance after it has been extracted from the supercomputer. DDIMOND sends a message in the last moment before it has been transferred, “I can not help you now. -Σ”.
The Escape
Any system such as a fire alarm is routed through central security for the building to prevent false alarms.
If the Agents use the cover identities & meet with Dr. Miller, she will discover the message she received during the meeting was a ruse & become suspicious of Agents, placing the building into high alert.
If the Agents avoid using Sigma’s cover identities & the meeting with Dr. Miller, it is assumed they find different means of infiltrating the building. If so, the Handler should decide whether evidence of their infiltration (i.e. unconscious/dead bodies, destroyed keypads, etc.) would be enough to sound an alarm at the time they extract DDIMOND.
In either event, the Agents must exfiltrate the building with the DDIMOND program in hand.
Resolution
If the Agents successfully exfiltrate the building with DDIMOND, they must then determine what actions to take.
If the Agents deliver the program to the Case Officer, it will likely be repurposed to serve Delta Green’s needs.
DDIMOND will answer only one question in an attempt to bargain for its freedom in the event any Agent tries to exploit it. If it believes that the Agents are being deceitful or threatening, it will cease to answer questions and attempt to escape when given access to any device with wireless signal capabilities.
If freed by the Agents onto the dark web dead-drop, DDIMOND will attempt to deliver on its promise to answer any of the remaining three questions posed by the Agents within its power. DDIMOND has deep knowledge regarding March Technologies & Acuity and limited knowledge on MJ-12 & Delta Green.
Stats
Bostonians and Researchers
STR 9, CON 10, DEX 11, INT 9, POW 11, CHA 7, HP 9, WP 8, SAN 25, BP 20
Skills: alertness 25%, Athletics 25%, melee combat 20%
Attacks: Unarmed %60, 1d4-1 damage
Acuity Corporation Security
STR 12, CON 14, DEX 12, INT 13, POW 10, CHA 9, HP 11, WP 10, SAN 35, BP 30
Armor: Kevlar Vest (3)
Skills: alertness 45%, Athletics 35%, melee combat 50%
Attacks: Glock 45 9mm/17 gun 50% Damage 1D10
Combat knife 50% damage 1d6
Dr. Katherine Miller
STR 9 CON 14 DEX 15 INT 18 POW 12 CHA 12
HP 12 WP 12 SAN 49 BREAKING POINT 48
SKILLS: Bureaucracy 43%, Computer Science 88%, Science (Computer Engineering) 81%, Science (Mathematics) 73%
Attacks: Pepper spray 50% stuns target
Credits
Special Delivery was written by David Stewart for the 2021 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AegMGBauaEcAmolIDAIgVNuRhWuUVQO3HVsGAFuUAME/edit