Gameplay - Bad Moon Rising Part One

Friday, 22nd August 2131
06:00
Briefing Room D16
Briefing Officer: Watch Commander Grice

Skegg, Phaerin and Noss are assigned to Ceta Patrol, also known as 13-3. Judge Noss is assigned as Patrol Leader today.

‘Heads-up Judges.

‘A busy one today. Annual Mopad Park-In Festival at the Synibar Mopark off Bob Mould Mega Circular.
Estimated 300 vehicles expected and the usual litany of arguments, score-settling, traffic hold-ups on the arterial megways and petty perps looking for some easy scores amongst the unattended mopads. Ten Judges to be in attendance, so I’m assigning Patrols 13-1 and 13-2. Get over there as soon as the briefing’s finished. You’ll have Pat, H and Meat Wagon support if you need it.

‘Item two: shooting at the ‘Konstant Cup’ synthi caf bar on Hilton and LeGrange. Three John Does dead. No robbery. Looks like a hit. Patrol 13-3 – you’re on this one: ID on the stiffs is in from control and pick those up at the end. These were low-level Contralto Crew runners; nothing to link the creeps with the Big Brains in Gandolfini, so may not indicate anything we need to worry about too much. But I want the usual list: witness statements, evidence, possibly perps. Were there any known contracts out on the victims? If so, who called them in? Who did they tick-off recently?
Is this internal Contralto business? Shakedown anyone at Gandolfini that you have to but I guarantee you’ll get zip.

‘Last up for today, robbery at Guzman Sanctity Investments, an investment brokerage firm on Eustace Fargo East Approach sked. The perps took 6 million in Bearer-Bonds and ignored the loose change. No casualties and forensics are reporting a high-class professional job. The bonds will most likely vanish and the company has insurance; but all the same, we need statements and a team on the street checking known perps who operate to the same MO and a shakedown of the local fences. Wild goosechase if you ask me but hey, it’s a crime. Patrol 13-4; you’ve got this one.

‘Oh and Chief DiMaggio wants to see Kowalsk in his office five minutes ago. Someone’s made a complaint about Judge brutality. Again. ‘That’s it. Other minor assignments will be beamed to your bike computers. Look sharp, stay safe.’

Senior Judge Grice delivers the standard watch briefing in his usual monotone, his helmet perched in the wing of the lectern. Behind him the display screen runs through the latest crime stats, flashes-up the mug-shots of arrested perps, wanted perps and suspects. The Judges sit in rows, listening patiently; Grice tolerates no flippancy when he is presenting a briefing and any sniggers or cute comments attract a flinty glare and fast rebuke from the seasoned watch commander.
At the end, Judges file-out in their Patrol groups and into the Rapid Briefing Room where bursts of information relating directly to the above incidents and more, are fed straight into the Judges’ audio data stream. The Judges are now ready for their day ahead.

As the three of you saddle up and head out of the underlevel garage, to turn onto the approach sked, you see a Foord Slabster heading toward Sector House. Ordinarily, there is nothing wrong with this; civilian traffic comes up to the Sector House all the time, but...

You all identify that the speed it's travelling, that Slabster is not stopping and is on a direct collision course with the stair leading up to the Sector House public entrance. You have 18 seconds (3 rounds ) to act.

---

Three citizens are walking down the stairs from the entrance, directly in the path of the slabster

The Slabster is travelling at 60kph and its engines whines loudly. You can see the driver, hands on the wheel.

Ground Car, Foord Slabster

The Slabster is one of the most common vehicles found on the streets of Mega-City One and every family who cannot hope to
afford the latest roadster or hovercar aspires to the freedom a ground car can give – for many, the car gives the first opportunity
they have had to leave their city block. The Slabster is reasonably well-featured for its price and includes many additions such
as the Electro ‘Lite’ security system normally found on far more expensive models. Many are used by the few successful taxi
companies still employing human drivers.

Dimensions
Height 580mm
Width 710mm
Length 1,980mm
Wheelbase 1,093mm
Weight 1,574kg
Fuel Capacity 91 litres
Powerplant Foord catalytic 2.5 hybrid fuel cell
Full Speed 230kph
Max Speed 383m per round

Noss takes off to meet the Slabster. Phaerin pops off two shots, taking out the front tires. The vehicle peels off to the left, away from Noss and directly towards to the main skedway and on coming traffic.

Skegg reacts as the Slabster verges off course and pulls alongside.

The driver is unmoving and unreactive to the challenge.

You can certainly try!

It would involve a fast break and turn and fire cannons (Drive roll -2)

Roll damage 6d6 +16

Damage location

The power of the cannons rip into the outer casing of the front of the Slabster and doesn't quite tear off the whole of the forward section. The force however pushes the vehicle into a spin and it slides to a halt on the first lane. Two oncoming vehicles smash into it, but others manage to break or change lanes to avoid a massive pile up.

On getting no response from the driver, Skegg takes a closer look. The driver is an IC1 male. dressed in black rags. He is also very dead and seemingly has been for some time.

Phaerin assists the drivers of the other vehicles. No loss of life, just a few cuts and bruises.

Forensics and the Tek squad arrive on site and get to work. The corpse will need an autopsy to determine cause of death but his hands have been superglued to the steering wheel and ass to the seat. The med team determine he's been dead for some time but rigour mortis has not encumbered the body's positioning. The body stinks but clearly this was a tall, strong, physically active man.

The Med team takes away the body for an autopsy and Chief DiMaggio himself comes down to witness the aftermath and he congratulates your squad for avoiding loss of life and what could have ended in a multi vehicle pile up.

"Now get to your assignment. Come back here when you're done and pick up on this case," he barks.

The Konstant Cup is a typical, Mega-City One franchise synthi-caf bar on the corner of Hilton and LeGrange pedways.
From the outside, a squat, wide building fashioned into the semblance of a coffee mug with a welcoming holographic
sign of a buxom waitress refilling a mug with steaming synthi caf. Inside the bar is stark white, with coffee mug-shaped
booths, high, floor-fixed tables, glaring lighting and a very sterile ambience. The place is completely robotised: three multi-armed robot servers dispense coffee with unerring proficiency as they scoot around the booths on single ball wheels, cheery messages displayed on their face-screens.

Except for today..

As you arrive, Tek Squad are on site and have cordoned-off the bar.

• Four dead in total. Three of the men, sitting together, are
low-level hoodlums in the Contralto Crew:

o Ridgy ‘Knuckles’ Dean, age 48; ran zziz supply
rackets in the lower levels of the sector. Pulled five
years cube time for GBH around seven years ago.
Very low-weight in the Contralto Crew but known to
be loyal and keen to go on up in the world.

o Georgi diBesti, age 51; thug-for-rent who
specialised in terrorising alien visitors fresh from
Eustace Fargo Spaceport. Several convictions for
assaults and facing a mandatory lobotomy if he
offended again. Looks like someone got there first:
the entire front of his brain has been shot away with
almost surgical precision.

o Toni Durante, age 49: slightly better connected
in the Crew and in charge of one of the corrupt
portering rackets at the spaceport. No convictions
but plenty of suspicions.

• The dead citizen is Willy-Billy Schultz, a resident of Buzz
Aldrin block. He had a job as a trainee sub-assistant
cleaner at a Sector 13 public convenience. No Justice
Department history.

• The three Contralto Crew, whilst known to each other,
were not common associates. Each was packing a
weapon of some kind; a spit-gun of varying calibres.
Whoever shot them worked fast. Only Knuckles
managed to get a hand to his weapon. Tek believes
two shooters may have been involved simply because
of the speed needed to gun down all three. Forensics
have dug bullets out of the remains of each man’s
head and will run the usual ballistics. Results should
be available within the hour and beamed to the Judges’
bike computers

• There was no robbery: the serving robots accepted only
card payments anyway, so the Konstant Cup has no
cash. None of the victims have been robbed either; each
one has wallets and ID still in place.

• Tek believes that there was a second witness to the
shooting. The table where Willy-Billy Schultz was sitting
had two synthi-caff mugs and the second mug has
traces of lipstick on the rim. Schultz’s girlfriend perhaps?
Records show he was not married but PSU have no
records for any known female liaisons.

• This branch of Konstant Cup is in a PSU dead-zone.
The street cameras do not quite cover the entrance to
the bar and when video records are pulled for the likely
period of the crime (between 3am and 6am), only the
Contralto Crew are seen entering. Customers coming in
from the Hilton Street side of the bar can be picked-up on
camera; from the LaGrange side, the images are fuzzy.
Someone knowing the camera positioning could walk up
to the doors in a diagonal and completely avoid being
picked-up on any PSU scanners. No internal cameras
save for the memory banks of the serving droids and all
three of them have been blasted.

• This has all the hallmarks of a professional hit. The
gunmen knew who they would hit and when and how
to get in without being detected. The Konstant Cup may
have been chosen precisely because it is in a PSU dead
zone. Whoever did this was ruthless enough to leave
no living witnesses: Willy-Billy was cleanly executed
and judging by his slim build and typical, block-resident
dress, was no threat to anyone save, perhaps, the
germs in the public toilets he cleaned for his job.

As Noss studies the scene he considers the method of execution.
A high-calibre gun that, fired at very close range, guarantees death. The victims were shot very quickly in succession: either more than one gunman or someone with very fast reflexes. The weapon also used case-less ammunition – a feature of the .408 Hand Cannon. However, Noss knows that a .408 Hand Cannon is not necessarily the choice of weapon for a professional hitman of the kind mobsters usually employ. It is costly and difficult to obtain. What is evident is that whoever pulled the trigger knew what he was doing – the murders were fast and effective.

It seems the Tek Squad have done their jobs and you don't spot anything that hasn't already been picked up on.

As Skegg takes a look around he considers the place itself as a location for execution.

The Konstant Cup on Hilton and LeGrange is a good spot: excellent escape routes and a PSU blind spot. A brightly lit, public area, it would probably have felt safe to the victims.
The Konstant Cup is in Contralto turf and the victims probably did not expect any form of confrontation from whoever summoned them there. Clearly they did not meet by chance – any meeting at that early in the morning was obviously pre-arranged.

You each have at least one Contralto contact or informant on your books (feel free to add to your character sheet and name them)

Potential avenues of investigation...

Why were the Contraltos hit? - Shaking down contacts/using informants

Gang War? - Investigate possibility of revenge killing from other crime family

Homes and associates of deceased? - Personal visit or order Tek Squad/Forensic Squad shakedown

PSU recordings - pull records on movements of victims in Sector 13

The Citizen - apartment, criminal record, employment, where is the survivor?

Max Contralto - As well as a slew of other Contralto's, there's always the top man, Max Contralto if you think this is worth bothering him over..

or anything else you may think of...

Investigating the homes of the dead men produces little. There is plenty of evidence linking each Contralto victim with dozens of crimes ranging in severity but nothing that would suggest a bloodbath of the kind seen at the Konstant Cup.

The squad make their way to Buzz Aldrin block and find the fast food joint in the food court on the ground floor. The stench of fried food fills the air. Phaerin spots her man in a greasy uniform, wiping down tables.

The man turns as he hears your voice, one eye covered by a patch. He stumbles back into the table and looks around for an exit, "J-j-j-j-udges, I don't want any trouble."

Formidable Presence might make it worse, but you can make an influence roll..

On seeing Phaerin, he becomes doubly nervous, quickly looking around to see who might be watching. He gives his boss a hand signal and leads you to the staff room, a crappy little 10 by 10 cubicle.


"Look I kept my nose clean since I got out, I don't know what I can tell you."

"Ah the three that got hit? Not much. All Contralto's but not connected far as I know. Would have liked to have been a fly on the wall in that shootout or at least a servo droid! I wonder if they caught any audio?"

"Sure you can. They're basically mobile recording devices. It's how manager's stop customers bullshitting about what they ordered. We use them here too. I'm sure a Tek judge worth his salt should know how," he looks sideways at Phaerin with a grin

"I have no idea. Pull your lie detector out if you don't believe me!"

Phaerin replays the audio for the others...

The Warren Buffet Luxi-Pads are comfortable looking penthouses in a high security conapt block in the affluent district of Sector 13. On arrival, Luigi Bennetti, a small stooped, balding man in his late 60's, welcomes you and is more than happy to answer questions.

Harketts eventually agreed, but the best he could promise was 24 hours for such a big set up.

The Judges then leave the retired accountant and head to Jon Bon Jovi.

JBJ Block is one of the "Rock Blocks" and as such is dedicated to the 20th Century's foremost rock-god-superstar, Jon Bon Jovi. Legend says the great man himself was born and raised in the old city that lies beneath JBJ's foundations.

The block blasts the man's music on a loop all day, currently playing a guitar fuelled song entitled "Wanted Dead or Alive"
Images of the man are everywhere and hanging in pride of place in Jonny B. Plaza, the main entrance hall, encased in transpasteen, is Jonny B's six string, once touched by the Great Man's own hand.

Noss leads the way to the lower levels in search of his informant and they find him eating a synthidog in the food court. He's a weaselly looking fellow with red hair and smiles as Noss approaches.

Wanted: Dead or Alive comes to an end and a new track starts. Almost everyone starts cheering and clapping and singing aloud. It's then the judges notice how many of the citizens are dressed in synthi-leather pants, synthis denim waistcoats and cowboy hats and almost all of them sport long shaggy haircuts. The noise of the music and sing-along is deafening.

With nothing else to go on, the team leave the investigation returning to Sector House to pick up on the Slabster crash and look into the forensics results.

The ride back is uneventful and parking up in the basement, they visit the Tek department to see what was learnt:

• The Slabster was running on pre-programmed collision co-ordinates: the Sector House was most definitely the target.

• The inside of the Slabster has been thoroughly swabbed with alcohol to eliminate prints. There is not a scrap of DNA to be found in the vehicle, save for the vehicle’s owners’ (see below). Chances are robots did the loading and gluing of the corpse.

• The Slabster was stolen from Sector 242 a week ago. It belonged to the Rutsey family of Heston Blumenthal block. The family has no previous history with Justice Department; Rory Rutsey is a munce-chef at a diner in the block; his wife, Rita, is unemployed. Two kids, both under six years old, in the block school. The car’s autodrive system has been reprogrammed from the ground-up with the co-ordinates, speed and trajectory for hitting the Sector House. This was a custom, professional job. Had the vehicle been pack with explosives, it could have caused a lot of damage.

• The stiff glued to the steering wheel is one Arlitch Ekhardt. Ekhardt is known to Justice Department: he was a Judge for 25 years, ten of which were with SJS. He took the Long Walk two years ago. Ekhardt was already dead when he was glued into the Slabster and an autopsy reveals that every bone in his body was broken over a prolonged period of time. In short, Ekhardt was
captured and tortured. It is impossible to tell the cause of death but as Ekhardt was a strong man, it took a great deal to kill him.

• There is nothing else in the vehicle linking it to Ekhardt. There is no message, no vid-slug, nothing.

As for Ekhardt: his record as a Judge is exemplary and precisely what one would expect for a member of SJS: over 300 investigations against Judges, resulting in 40 successful prosecutions – 10 resulting in Titan sentences. He was a hardliner who even had a shot at interrogating Dredd.

Any one of the 600 Justice Department officers Ekhardt investigated or interrogated might have motive for wanting him dead; but here is one curious fact. Ekhardt took the Long Walk and here are no MAC records for his return, which indicates that he was most likely killed – or at least captured – in the Cursed Earth.

If another Judge who held a grudge against Ekhardt killed him in the Cursed Earth, then he is, technically, beyond Mega-City One jurisdiction and cannot be tried for the act.
Only if Ekhardt was killed within the city walls could charges be brought.

You can access the SJS records and go through every Judge who crossed paths with Ekhardt but that could take anything from 10-60 hours of continuous work.

It takes a few hours, the rest of the shift, to go through just the 40 names that resulted in prosecution and determine if any went on the Long Walk. It draws pretty much a blank. Two Judges who were interrogated by Ekhardt and subsequently took the Long Walk are known to have died before Ekhardt took his. Of those sent to Titan, 6 never returned to Earth and the remainder who came back to Mega-City One are under PSU 24-hour surveillance. Their records show they now live blameless lives and not one of them has ventured out of the city.