ISTREB

By Gregory Deych (gdeych@pop.cs.wisc.edu)

The Past

October 12, 1953

Peter Kaletin, "Hey, four-eyes!" to his enemies, stood quiet and uneasy in the drizzling rain. The tall firs at his back blocked some of the wind, but mostly he was very, very glad of his father's hand on his shoulder. He pressed a little back, and hoped his father wouldn't think he was scared. His mother was at home, wondering what took her husband to take their two children into the woods in this weather. As it was he, his father and little Alex, whose hand he was holding were only one of about 10 men and women allowed to witness the trial.

He saw the movement between trees, and glanced over to where tall men and women were emerging from the lodge. The three were looking suitably grave but one of them did look over to where the criminal was sitting, his tongue lolling insolently from his mouth. The oldest one motioned the others to form a circle around the accused. "Robert De Grasse, Swoops-like-Lightning, we give you one last chance to acknowledge your guilt. Will you take it?"

The wolf sitting on the ground shook his head, then abruptly his form flowed up, forming a human figure, a human face. "I am not in the wrong." he said gruffly. "He was of the Wyrm, and all his family was tainted by it. Why do you even listen to those monkeys?" his eyes were full of loathing as he looked at the small group of men and women clustered outside circle. "My word is on it, and that should be enough for you, Walter Hartford."

The three Philodoxes exchanged somber looks, then the oldest of them spoke. "Unfortunately, we cannot ascertain with any certainty whether your words are true or not. The . . . remains . . . have disappeared, by action of party or parties unknown. Therefore, it is the duty of this court to declare to all that Robert De Grasse stands innocent of charge of violating the Seventh and Eighth precept of the Litany. Let no Garou hold a grudge against him." Behind Peter, a long held breath by his father escaped with a sigh and a muttered curse. De Grasse, shrugging off the hands of his supporters walked over slowly to Peter's father. Ignoring Peter and little Alex he leaned over them, and hissed. "You forgot your place, Kaletin. But I will not forget, don't worry." He was going to say something else, but remembering himself he clenched his teeth and strode away, the very picture of offended Garou honor and virtue.

"How can they let him, Dad!" Peter twisted out of his father grip to look him in the face. "He killed Linda, and Mister and Missus Coleman too! You saw him! You said . . . ."

His father crouched next to him, stopping his outburst with raised hand. "Hush, Peter." Valentine Kaletin said tiredly. "Let's go home; there is nothing here left for us."

September 8, 1968

Alex Kaletin paused for a second in the shade of a tall tree to wipe sweat off his face. He liked to think that he was in best shape of his life, but it was damn near 100 degrees under the canopy, and the humidity was about the same too. He shouldered his '16 automatically making sure he didn't get any crap in the action or the barrel of the weapon on the last crawl through the clearing. Making a short motion with his hand he moved up, re-taking the point from the RVN Ranger, Lac. By his last reckoning they were about 4 klicks from the O-point.

Alex was 21 years young, and at the moment he was in command of this particular patrol. His hand sneaked by instinct to brush the Roadrunner insignia on his jacket, for luck and all that other stuff. 2 hours, then a day or two of observing the trail to Phan Thiet and then back to the base. No contact, just observe, easy money and . . . .

. . . the first thing that clued Alex to the fact that something went wrong was the fact that he was flying through the air. It was all happening very slow, and several thoughts flashed through his head. Number one was that he stepped on a mine. Second was that Master Sergeant Cotrell is going to kill him for stepping on a mine. The third got aborted by the impact into a large tree. He hung suspended for a fraction of a second and then crashed on the ground. There was no sound at all, something that puzzled him for a second as he tried to absorb what was going on. He could see a large smoking hole a few yards from deer trail they were walking from and it must've not been a mine because his feet were still attached to the rest of him. On the other hand, he was seeing a lot of muzzle flashes coming from the jungle around him. He tried to boost himself up, but his right arm folded under him dumping right back on the ground. Staring for a few seconds he realized that that white thing that was sticking out of his forearm was a bone, which meant that for the moment he was left-handed. No problem. He giggled. It didn't hurt, which meant it was better than just all right. He brought up his M-16 with his left hand and fired off a few rounds in the general direction of the VC. The bullet which smashed into his thigh was an unpleasant surprise however. And things were starting to hurt a little, with an insistent edge that promised more pain coming shortly. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and saw another GI drop down next to him. Alex didn't know who the hell he was, but he wasn't up to asking too many questions at the moment. The other turned to him and said quietly (how could he hear him with all the soundless firing?) "You got two choices here, pal. You can either fight or die. Which one will it be?" Alex must've been losing blood, because that seemed a very profound question, even more important then just matter of his life. He thought about it for a long second, and said. "I'll fight." Grabbing his M-16 with both hands he brought it up to his cheek, sighting it on the flashes. The jungle flashed crimson, then he could see the VC hiding behind the bushes, plastered on the wet earth. All he had to do was just point and shoot.

[From the Medal of Honor Citation]

"Despite grievous wounds during the initial stages of the ambush, Sergeant Alex Kaletin proceeded to engage the enemy, estimated at reinforced platoon strength, with accurate aimed fire, personally accounting for 18 enemy KIA and unconfirmed number of WIA. He then carried the other sole survivor, RVN Ranger Quynh to the extraction point, administering him medical aid during the course of the 1 kilometer trek. His courage, indomitable spirit and quick thinking reflect great credit on himself and the United States Army."

June 19, 1988 - New York State

Peter was driving down the road in his customized Lexus, when his DEI alerted him to an incoming message. He acknowledged and engaged security measures to encode the transmissions. In a small window in his field of view, the picture of the duty officer in collective appeared. He appeared somewhat frazzled, certainly not the dapper and suave Scientist he met at the reception two days ago.

"How can I help you, Mr. Carson?" he asked politely.

It always paid to be nice to people, even if they really should've discussed everything while he was attending the conference.

"Mr. Kaletin, we have unconfirmed reports of possible Reality Deviants sighting in close proximity to your current location" Carson said, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "We are passing the reports up the chain, but meanwhile there you are . . . . "

"You want me to take a look myself. I understand completely."

"Well, that's good then. The reports include sighting of possible cryptozoological specimens, as well other, less concrete sightings. We are blocking the lines in and out of the area, and our CRIT teams are scrambling as we speak."

Kaletin nodded, trusting the simulation sensors to pick up his response. "I'll check in with you after I have something to report." He cut the connection and brought up the map of the area, superimposing on it the microwave and lidar data from one of the Platinum satellites passing overhead. The area unfolded in his field of view, with false color imaging and areas of suspected RD action highlighted. Say what you want about those NWO guys in the field, but they do give good intel he thought. His own implants were coming online, in case confrontation was necessary. Peter Kaletin had no great experience with fighting; in fact his own field of expertise was largely managerial and scientific, but like most other Iterators he considered combat to be as much a mental matter as physical. And he did spend almost a year as a liaison to the Border Corps. He pulled over on the side of the road, pushing the car as far under the trees as he dared and got out. His enhanced senses swept the area, making sure nobody was in the immediate vicinity. Referring to the overhead map one more time, he proceeded slowly to where the real-time imagery indicated things were going on. Before crossing the ridge, he dropped (somewhat clumsily) on his stomach and crawled over to the top. Peering over he saw a scene that remind him of Dante's Inferno. Several Garou and other things he was fairly sure could only be Fomori were a man and a woman down into deep hole in the ground. Both humans were already almost dead; the male in particular was almost eviscerated. With a shudder, Peter realized that the bloody thing one of the Garou was munching on was the man's liver. Or another fairly vital organ. Trying to make no noise whatsoever, he ordered his DEI to load up a patch to one of his sensory nodes, one from a ROM chip he implanted himself. Good Iterators are not supposed to dabble in Dimensional Science -- or Spirit as the Traditionalists called them. But Peter Kaletin was no fool, and though he left his extended family behind him, he didn't forget everything that happened in the first 16 years of his life. With the patch in place, he was able to perceive shadowy forms of Extra-Terrestrial Entities floating through the area. He reversed quickly, and crawled down to the floor of the hillock. Spending a few extra seconds to catch his breath, he accessed the transmitter array.

"You were right." he said to the NWO's Operative. "I see multiple shapeshifters and other entities. Recommend you dispatch a reinforced TacResponce team; they'll tear the CRITs to pieces."

Carson nodded, glancing at a display outside Kaletin's field of vision. "Understood. We are -- er. Hold please, we're receiving a communiqué." He cocked his head, listening to an unheard voice in his head. When he turned back to Kaletin, his manner was a lot more urgent. "Sir, you are urgently requested to remove yourself from the area. Another Convention is currently conducting classified field studies there. They will take care of everything."

"The hell they will, Carson, the place is damn near crawling with RDs! Patch me through to the IT-X Control, I'll order a team here on my own."

Carson opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly Kaletin heard a voice in his head. "Programmer, you are ordered to remove yourself from the area immediately. Any delay will result in sanctions. Am I clear?"

Peter's mouth had gone dry. "Yes, sir." The identifying header of the message flashing in the lower right hand corner of his retina left no doubt that whoever just issued the order, had ample authority to do it. He slowly rose to his feet and made his way back to the car. Turning around, he drove back deep in thought. That a Technocracy convention was cooperating with Garou was on the face of it ridiculous. The fact that the Garou were Black Spirals was inconceivable. Peter wasn't sure that the word meant what he thought anymore.

April 3, 1991 - Paris

Alexander was sipping a cup of coffee in one of the myriad cafes on the banks of Seine. The day was cool, but the spring was making more than a token appearance. He could smell the freshness of the season in the air, and it was making him feel pretty good. He stretched in his seat and nodded to the man who just pulled up the chair to his table.

"Hello, Peter." he said pleasantly. "What's up? First I don't hear from you for nearly 3 years, and then suddenly you pop up from the middle of nowhere. You haven't even called Dad, have you."

Peter Kaletin shook his head. "No, not yet. If I said I was very busy, would you laugh in my face?"

"Quite possibly." Alex did grin, after a few seconds.

"I was, though. Did I tell you I made Comptroller?"

"No . . . but congratulations. Do you get your own dungeon block now?"

"Bah, you're just jealous. And it's a whole dungeon complex, just so you know. " Peter grinned back at his brother, who always delighted in needling him about Technocracy stereotypes. Usually, Peter gave back as good as he got about the Traditionalists as well. But today there was more on his mind than simple banter. He laid a small black box on the table, and pushed a button on the side. A small green light blinked on, and stayed on. Alexander glanced at the box, raising one eyebrow in a silent query.

"I need privacy for this, Alex. Even more than usual." Peter leaned back, and looked close at his younger brother. It was difficult to tell with certainty which man was in fact younger, since both appeared to be in their early 40s at most. Colonel Alexander Kaletin, Ret, CMOH, DSC, SS (twice), Purple Heart (twice), looked like a career soldier, which was a part of what he was. However people who concentrated on appearances tended to miss a keen mind that put its owner through Harvard's Ph.D. program in History, a strong leadership ability that made him a living legend in US Army and a powerful will. He was also an Adept of the Akashic Brotherhood.

"In the past couple of years or so, right after they gave me my own Institute, I've been making some very discreet inquires. I had to be extremely hush-hush about this, since the subject is so explosive." He paused, measuring his words. "I believe that there are certain factions within the Union which are cooperating with . . . ah . . . the Wyrm, basically, in some sort of guise."

Alexander leaned back staring at his older brother incredulously. However the import of the words swiftly penetrated his amazement. "Are you positive?" he asked once, and then settled down to hear him out. "What do you want me to do about this, Peter?" he asked finally, when the account wound down.

April 19, 1992 - Federal Register

"...Accordingly, the United States Congress hereby authorizes creation of Intelligence, Science and Technology Enforcement Bureau to monitor compliance with regulations enumerated in Executive Order No. 119390 . . . ."

Current Status

The ostensible purpose of ISTREB is to broadly monitor the science and technological sectors of the United States business community and to ensure that no untoward technology transfers are occuring. Needless to say, the reality is much different from what the paper says. The agency is headed by Brigadier General Alexander Kaletin (US Army) and its personnel drawn mostly from the ranks of the army special forces and intelligence. Its real mission is to compile sufficient evidence of Technocratic involvement with Pentex. Needless to say, the task is far from trivial but both Alexander and Peter are committed and they brought their considerable resources to bear. While Alexander heads the "visible" portions of ISTREB, Peter concentrates on providing untraceable funding and resources.

Structure

ISTREB is internally subdivided into three departments: Operations, Intelligence and Support. Typically, Intelligence concerns itself with finding and investigating leads; Operations takes appropriate action (which frequently involves some level of force) and Support provides any services the other two may need while doing their jobs.

Operations: The Operations department is unquestionably the domain of Alexander Kaletin. He holds both the overall command of ISTREB as well as the post of the department head. Most of the people who make up this department have been recruited by him or with his direct involvement. Many of the people in Operations are combat veterans, recruited from the ranks of 75th Ranger Regiment, 7th and 10th Special Forces Groups, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and US Army Technical Escort Units. Everybody who comes through Operations doors is a trained professional . . . who is quickly put through an extremely rigorous 12 week physical training course. The Operations department makes the most use of Iteration X devices, provided courtesy of Comptroller Peter Kaletin. There are approximately 80 men working in the operations, organized in 6 men A-teams.

Intelligence: The head of Intelligence is Jonathan Carson, late of New World Order's Albany Construct. He was approached and recruited by Peter Kaletin shortly after the incident. Intelligence agents are mostly recruited from the ranks of DoD Intelligence agencies, with Marine Intelligence being especially heavily represented. The basic reason for this is that most of the other agencies (CIA and NSA in particular) are heavily monitored by NWO. His department manages the flow of information into ISTREB, scouring the airwaves, financial reports, newspapers and police bulletins for information that could indicate a Pentex business is operating. In addition to this mundane intelligence gathering and analysis function, his agents are operating in most major American cities. They are responsible for coordinating any actions Operations department undertakes in their assigned region. The most secret mission of the department is to assist half a dozen or so agents who have penetrated Pentex-controlled businesses. These masters of deception and espionage are truly the best of the best of the Intelligence department. This department employs approximately 20-30 people.

Support: The department of Support and Services is controlled by Peter Kaletin's deputy, Carter Hawkes. The functions of the S&S are mostly logistical in nature, but they are also the ones who build hi-tech devices used by the ISTREB agents. The analysis of any of physical evidence is also conducted by S&S experts. This department boasts the highest number of Awakened individuals, mostly Technocrats and Technomancers recruited by Peter. Support is the largest department, employing over a dozen Scientists, Virtual Adepts and Sons of Ether.

Regulations

To operate effectively, ISTREB must work in secrecy. The government is kept in the dark about the real activity of it, and in fact provides only a part of it's budget. The Technocracy must not learn of its activity as well, as the Syndicate would most likely be let off with a slap on the wrist (if that), unless the evidence is iron clad. The money flow from the Syndicate is too important to the other Conventions to jeopardize for anything else. All that means that secrecy must be preserved, at almost any cost. All Sleepers recruited to work in ISTREB go through a very thorough screening conducted by the Intelligence Department, culminating in a deep scan by several ex-NWO operatives. The screening for the Awakened personnel starts with a scan, and gets more intense from there. If evidence is found that a person is compromising the agency's secrets punishments ranging from termination of employment (with a mind-wipe) to termination (period) may be issued. The Intelligence department's counter-intelligence cell handles the evidence gathering, and presents it to the tribunal consisting of the 3 department heads, who issue the ruling. There is almost no external control of ISTREB, except for annual reports to the Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee.

The Common Knowledge

Obviously, not everybody in ISTREB is completely briefed on all the details and fine points of the Ascension War. The range spans clerical workers in the S&S, who are only told that they are working for an intelligence agency to the agents in the Intelligence department who are usually the best informed. The average un-Awakened agent is still under the impression that he is working for a project with a government assigned, albeit a super secret, mission. In general, the Operations people are most familiar with Black Spirals, Fomori and Sabbat, while Intelligence deals more with the Syndicate controlled businesses.

The equipment provided by the Technomancers for use by the un-Awakened personnel is very much high tech, but not so much as to invite undue contemplation. As with most technocracy tech, it is overwhelmingly coincidental in use.

The Supernatural Angle

By far, most of the agents of the ISTREB are Sleepers, but most of them could be qualified as what Technomancers refer as Sympathizers, people who are trained and conditioned to accept the high technology used by the Technocracy. The Operations agents are almost universally enhanced with Iteration X cybernetics, but the implants tend to be less ostentatious than ones utilized by the It-Xers themselves. Intelligence Agents, in keeping with their NWO roots, tend to use gadgets more than implants.

Most of the Awakened personnel are concentrated in the S&S, but several Akashics are part of the Operations department and there are a few ex-NWO Men in the Intelligence wing. If a mission requires magical support beyond what a few gadgets can do, a mage is assigned to the team. Also, due to intense screening, Carson found several latent psychics in the ranks of ISTREB. They form a select group, overseen directly by Captain Henry Shu, one of Alex's Akashic disciples.

The other select group of Awakened congregates in the Counter-Intelligence group. It consists of a member of House of Thig, a Virtual Adept and an Akashic brother.

Other Groups

ISTREB's personnel is not unified enough to have a single viewpoint on other groups, but in general Technocracy and Garou are treated as neutrals who are not to be approached unless the need is truly dire and Traditions are considered out of the purview in general. Vampires are a bit of a special case since ISTREB does have some contact with Camarilla vampires (mostly Ventrue) due to political capital owed during creation of ISTREB. In return, Colonel Kaletin uses Sabbat dominated cities as a training ground for his operation teams. Some information is exchanged, but both group are clearly at arms length.

Toys for the Boys

The operations department takes up the most equipment transferred from the Iteration X warehouses. Many of the things that they use are the things Iteration X designed in the 50s and 60s, but they are stilll quite of a ways ahead of the Sleeper tech, while not being advanced to require Awakened users. For transportation, ISTREB uses mostly modified GMC Suburbans, uparmored and upengined. The agents also have access to a fleet of of helicopters, equipped with state of the art surveillance devices. For extra oomph, the agency also employs several helicopter gunships. Needless to say, those are brought out only in serious emergencies. Some of the cybernetic augumentations the agents receive include implanted body armor, bionic organ reconstruction, tactics coprocessors and muscle grafts.

Transport

Vehicle	Safe Speed	Max Speed	Maneuver	Crew	Armor	Weapons
Suburban	100 mph	150 mph	7	1+5	7	none
Helicopter	200 mph	350 mph	8	2+8	7	none, sensors
Gunship	220 mph	425 mph	10	2	10	30 mm cannon, 4 rocket pods

Support Weapons

Name	Dif	Damage	Range	Rate	Capacity	Weight
30 mm cannon	7	15	1200	8	20	300 lbs
Rocket	8	15	3000	4	32	65 lbs

Small arms

Name	Dif	Damage	Range	Rate	Capacity	Weight
XM11 Assault Rifle	7	10	800	1/3/10	112	11.4 lbs
XM3a Personal Weapon	6	7	120	1/3	22	2.4 lbs

Note: All of the weapons have been created by Technomancer research, but are coincindental enough not to require Arete roll (nor for that matter Quintessense; these are not talismans). These are liquid binary propellant weapons, and ammo for them is not obtainable anywhere else.

Cybernetics

Body Armor: The implanted polytropic isokevlar sheeting, placed right under the skin protects the user from all sorts of projectile harm. The user gains 3 extra dice of soak, over his whole body.

Life *** Matter ****

Bionic Organ Reconstruction: The process involves installing additional cybernetic systems that can assist in the functioning of normal organs. As a result, the operative can sustain many more injuries, before becoming incapacitated. 4 extra Health Levels.

Life ****

Tactics CoProcessor: The expert systems in the implanted bodycomp are interfaced with user's optic nerve. They project vectors and threat levels, as well as assisting in targeting of smart weapons. The user gains -3 difficulty to firearms rolls (on suitably equipped weapons, -1 on all others) as well as +3 damage to all damage rolls. The hand to hand/melee rolls receive similar bonuses(-1/+3).

Correspondence * Entropy * Life *

This cybernetic implant also comes in an option optimized for threat analysis, which aids user to avoid hazards. +2 to Dodge.

Time **

Muscle Graft: A relatively simple addition of muscle fibers, to augument the patient's existing muscular structure. The extra muscle tissue is designed to activate only when the user desires that extra burst of strength (which also tends to preserve coincidentiality)

+2 Strength (activated by a Willpower roll vs. 5). He also gains +1 to Stamina, active all the time.

Life **** Time **** Entropy **