Agua Superficial

First things first: unless you are a native of the country where you're going, you're not in Kansas anymore. YOU are not on your home turf, and you'd better know the local situation before you go sashaying into one of the eastern European countries, or you'll wind up on the wrong end of a gun very swiftly. It's not just the lan- guage that will be different. The cus- toms, the food, the body language, the politics—everything is going to be dif- ferent. What's worse, is that it won't be totally alien, like walking into the Forbidden City. No, things will be just familiar enough to get you caught up in a stimulus-response situation where your natural response to the stimulus will be all wrong, and bang! you're dead (or worse).

In simple terms, don't look at a tour in the old SovBloc as a milk run through historic Europe. Even if you're Euro-hip to the eyeballs, and can min- gle with the goldenkids and the foot- ball supporters, you'll have to learn a whole different culture to fit in with the east Euros. Short of finding a very competent and long-suffering native guide with a silver tongue, the next best thing is to outfit yourself with a CultOps chipset (editorial note: the CultOps chipset is similar to the Special Operative and Tourism chips in Chromebook 1. It is a set of two chips; one has the language at +3 and the other has Specific Culture at +2 and Local Geography at +1. This is enough to prevent basic faux pas. Cost is 1500 eb). For the real pros, nothing less than a complete chip-set (language, cus- toms, law, geography, and military tech, all at +3) will do—it's heavy on the chip-slot, but a good, thorough knowledge of the country and the peo- ple can save your mission, and your butt.

The next thing to look at is your kit What are you taking with you into east Euro? Besides your cybernetics, of course—speaking of which, look to

your body first. Get a complete check- up, inoculations, nanotech boost, and cybernetics overhaul done before you head out, even if you're only going to be there a week or so. Eastern Europe is not the center of modern medicine and cybernetics research. If your metal breaks down out in the middle of Kazakhstan, the nearest cybernetics clinic is in Volgograd—and its most recent stock is ten years old, mate. They don't have the spares, the facili- ties, or the know-how to fix that mal- functioning servo (much less a faulty neural circuit). And they don't have tai- lored nanos to keep your biowares going, either.

Back to the kit What are you tak- ing in the way of equipment? Thinking of hauling in a Malorian Flechette pis- tol and an M31A1? Or maybe just a Militech 25mm GL Better haul lots of ammo and spares, then, because you won't find any available at any price where you're going, you'd be better off switching to a Stolvoboy, or even an old AK-74, because there are tote of these around, with mountains of spare parts and ammo. Anything in 9mm Parabellum is okay, too, because of the proximity to western Europe and their love affair with the old round.

The same thing goes for the rest of your equipment. Whenever possible, try to kit yourself out in what's locally available, because most mercenaries don't have huge supply networks to keep them in their favorite materials. The best advice is to check out an area SovOil location, and see if the local employees won't liberate some equip- ment in exchange for some euro. SovOil stuff is high quality (by east Europe standards), and common enough that it won't generate interest (or supply problems).

So you've got your chips, your check-ups, and your gear, you figure you're ready to go. Uh uh. Rule #1: Knowledge is power. Before you head off to your job, check out the local sit- uation nine ways from Sunday. If you can, finagle an intelligence report from a reliable source or two—it's amazing what you can find when you combine

a CIA dossier with the lowdown from a native organized-crime stoolie. Read the newsfaxes. Raid network datafiles. Try to find out everything you can about where you're going and what you're doing. The more information you have, the less chance there is of getting caught in a double-cross (a common and popular tactic in eastern Europe. It's no coincidence that the vampire legend comes from here, with its central basis of the idea that anyone can betray you, even your loved ones). So keep your eyes open. Make sure of the political and military situa- tions if you can, because changing conditions can alter allegiances in moments. In addition, be as certain as possible of the allegiances of your employer, and your enemies. Employer and adversary covertly working together to accomplish a political goal is a more common occurrence in eastern Europe than you might think.

Russia

The largest sovereign republic of the USSR, the largest economic power, and the tail that wags the USSR dog, Russia is pretty much still the center of

the USSR, a fact which angers the other sovereign republics (such as Ukraine), and makes neighbors like the Baltics and Poland nervous. Russia still has one of the world's largest standing armies, nuclear capability, and is one of the world's aerospace leaders—the Soviet Rocket Corps pro- vides most of the ESA's heavy lifting engines.

Despite this apparent strength, industrial might, and solidarity, there is still plenty of employment for merce- naries inside Mother Russia. The opportunities range from security to garrison, from striker missions to espi- onage:

Striker Mission: The oil fields of the Caucasus region (located between Ukraine and Kazakhstan) have been a strategic target since WW II. The Wehrmacht almost captured them, and were stopped at Stalingrad. Stalingrad was re-renamed Volgograd, and is still the focal point of this oil-rich region. SovOil practically owns this region, but has problems with Arabic Kazakhstanis, who also claim this region because they want the oil, too!

The Employer: SovOil, the biggest company in the hemisphere. It pays

well, and SovOil's checks never bounce—but you earn them. Watch your back, though. SovOil hires foreign meres to do its dirty work for the fol- lowing reasons: 1. To achieve an objective more cost-efficiently than SovOil's troops; 2. to do a dirty job and blame it on foreigners, rather than SovOil (hopefully, they'll get you out fast); 3. suicide missions, where the idea is to shoot up the enemy and die in the process, thereby blunting the enemy and only costing SovOil the euro to bring you in and turn you loose.

Support: Variable, depending on the mission. If you're going to be there for a while and you're not doing com- mando ops, SovOil can keep you in comparatively good supply—particu- larly if you use SovOil-standard equip- ment

The Enemy: The main thrust to capture, or at least cripple, the Caucasus oil fields, comes from a col- lection of Arabic Kazakhstan! tribes whose motives are greed, tribal pride, and a hatred of the Russians (who are perceived as foreign oppressors). The Kazakhstanis are fairly well-equipped, using arms and equipment seized from local armories. Usually this mate- rial is used against the Christian Kazakhstanis, but these tribes can muster fairly large forces to sally out of Kazakhstan and attack SovOil's oil fields.

The Mission: Using western tech- nology and tactics, mercenaries cross the Kazakhstan! border and attack the aggressors before they strike into the oil fields. These are usually search-and- destroy missions, with the emphasis placed on "hit-and-git." The method of attack varies with the size of the mer- cenary force—a large armored force would use direct assault, while a small force might choose guerrilla tactics.

Garrison Mission: The border with the Baltics (Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania) is always a touchy place. Russian troops nearby are not well- loved—pesky partisans tend to sneak out and dry-gulch them, always a morale problem.

7776 Employer: The Russian gov- ernment. Pay is low, and sometimes unreliable, depending on the govern- ment's internal politics. Foreign meres are low on the priority list.

Support: Abysmal. The Russian Army will grudgingly allot a mercenary force necessary supplies, when it gets around to it.

The Enemy: Partisans from the Baltics (particularly on the Estonian border), and the Russian Army(l). Hopefully, the nationality of mere units on border patrol will dissuade parti-

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