Updated: 07/30/2008		CON-039

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Gatewatch Report

OPERATION WORCESTER

November 22-24 2002

No surviving Gatewatch report for this CON.

CON-39 Roster

Mission 1

Intelligence Summary: No summary possible due to lack of offworld data.

After Action Reports:

Cpt. Morticia Ash, SO, 51st Scientific Division

Gate Operations 22-Nov-2002 - 24-Nov-2002

United Nations Scientific Corps

On Friday the 22nd I attended Base 51, for Operation Worcester. My official mail had arrived early and there was enough to keep me occupied for several hours. I sorted through the various bits and pieces. The first item I noticed was another letter from the marketing department at Coca Cola, congratulating me on being a winner. Dr. Stokes also received a similar letter. This is worrying, as it implies that someone is playing with us. The connection to the Coca Cola retrieved from CON031MC03, during operation Mortimer's Cross, being too obvious to ignore.

Next, I had the experiment reports from Porton Down that indicates that nanites are put into stasis when placed in Coca Cola (see DSTL report). This makes me worry more. It would appear that someone is threatening Dr. Stokes and myself with infection through Coca Cola.

I must remember to request some more experiments be run with the Coca Cola and nanites at Porton Down. Do they reactivate when taken out of the Coca Cola? Can something from the Coca Cola be identified as the active stasis ingredient? Is it the suspected phosphoric acid? Can this be used to treat people contaminated with the nanites?

Then there was a message from GHQ New York warning me of a possible attempt to assassinate a member of our team described as "a man from the past". I guessed that this meant that Sgt. Vorsfelde was to be targeted. Ominously, the letter went on to say that the assassin was a regular member of our team who had achieved a high rank. I assumed this to mean an officer. Ever since I joined the UNSGC, first as a representative of Starlabs and now as head of the UNSC 51st Scientific Division, I've been aware that there have been rumours of a leak within Base 51. I think that the ambushing of our offworld combat and reconnaissance patrols can be explained by the fact that stargates are obvious places for ambushes and their activation alerts enemy forces to our presence. However, it can't be denied that security is not good. Thinking back to the time when we retrieved the CLEG 20 team, during CON032TO4 operation Torrington, and the message found on base during CON033NO3 operation Newbury, reminded me of this.

My first action was to request that Sgt. Vorsfelde be assigned to be my assistant during the operational cycle. That way I could keep an eye on him and prevent him from being killed. I got him to do various odd jobs to help me. As per SOPs I reminded everyone to go armed while on the base.

So who was the assassin? Clearly he was a member of the chain of command, which put me in a difficult position. Quite clearly if the assassin is out to kill members of our team and if he suspects that I know who he or she is, then I too will be killed. My list of suspects was all the officers assigned to Base 51. There were 11 possible suspects.

On reflection I felt that I could clearly eliminate Lt. Brown, Lt. Castle and Lt. Mkoll from my list of suspects. All three were relatively new to Base 51 and were not likely to be the mole who was now under orders to assassinate Sgt. Vorsfelde. They didn't meet the definition of regular member of the team. This reduced my list to eight suspects.

I thought that I could also eliminate Cpt. Vosloo and Cpt. Jameson from the list of suspects. The former only having just been promoted to officer level and the latter was a post Operation Clean Sweep promotion. OCS I felt was the key to all this. Whoever was behind that was likely to be this latest threat. This now left six possible suspects who could be the mole and potential assassin.

Mjr. Beaumont and Cpt. de Beer also seemed to me to also be excluded from the running. The former because she had been assigned to command operations of our support teams and has largely been noted by her absence from regular operations at Base 51. While Cpt. de Beer who was a strong contender of being my suspect, from the perspective of having the means, but why would she have worked so hard on exposing OCS if she were the mole? Also, I had also noticed that since doing the report, that she had been moved sideways in the chain of command. I had learnt that such sideways movement could be an indicator that someone above her wanted her out of the way. I think she had been passed over for promotion, after she had been moved to Porton Down as the liaison officer. Does this mean our mole is above her in chain of command? On balance I think she is not the one. Now I had got my list of possible suspects down to four people.

I had thought to eliminate Dr. Stokes from the list, but he has proved problematical. On one hand he has come forward and shared with me a letter he has received requesting that he arrange an equipment failure if Col. Law or Sgt. Vorsfelde were killed. This is interesting, because it means that the assassin is working to eliminate our ability to revive people. However, why ask the doctor to fake an equipment failure? What does the mole have on Dr. Stokes? What is the good doctor not telling us? Who is the doctor? He has been around for a longtime and could therefore be the mole. If he is the mole why would he be sent a letter? This doesn't make any sense. However, if he is the mole he's not very well placed to affect operations. Also, he is rather genial and cares for everyone and I find it hard to believe that someone who does such a good job caring for people is the mole and an assassin.

That left three suspects; Mjr. Appleby, Col. Law and Gen. Courtney. As head of Base security Mjr. Appleby was ideally placed to cover his tracks and be our mole. On the other hand Col. Law, as head of operations, was also in a good position to do the same. Gen. Courtney as base commander is also well placed to be the mole as who would suspect him? I remembered that Col. Law had given Mjr. Appleby severe reprimands over the security breaches on both of the occasions I'd mentioned. Gen. Courtney has hovered in the background. How can I deduce who is the mole? What other evidence is there? With this in mind I planned to keep my eye on the three of them. Unless of course there are multiple people working as an under cover mole on base? However, this option seemed too far-fetched and paranoid in the extreme. However, I will have to be on guard for the rest of the weekend.

CON-039-W01

The Friday night passed as the operational cycle started. Spending all my time procrastinating wasn't helping any. Also the operational requirements for myself listed three missions with specific aims and objectives for this operational cycle that I had to get ready for. I didn't go out to P158, whose gate out was at 23.21 hundred hours on the Friday night, with the return on Saturday 00.27 hundred hours as there was no scientific component requiring my presence.

Mission 2

Intelligence Summary: No information about world or conditions. Note from a Dr Lancaster retrieved previously from this world but no sign of her person on this mission. Now missing for approx 1 year, she must be considered contaminated by hostile forces. Stargazer unit retrieved.

After Action Reports:

Cpt. Morticia Ash, SO, 51st Scientific Division

The gate out to P165 left at 11.13 hundred hours and our return trip home was as 13.38 hundred hours. Our mission was to retrieve a Stargazer unit planted by one of our mirror teams (see DSTL report), as listed in the updates and changes, and look for Dr. Lancaster. 51SG6 had picked up a note when returning from a recent mission, which appeared to be from Dr. Lancaster. It showed signs of two to three months' worth of contamination. However, as she went missing almost a year ago, this suggests that she may have traveled forward in time by 9 months. I feel it's unlikely that we can recover her after three months on world, since she had no field skills to help her.

It was routine patrol and we found no signs of Dr. Lancaster, even though we found some sweet wrappers. My guess is that she succumbed to the elements. I suspect that she is now contaminated and gone feral.

Mission 3

Intelligence Summary: See Con 60 Mission 3 for latest intelligence.

After Action Reports:

Cpt. Morticia Ash, SO, 51st Scientific Division

My second mission was to act as a representative of Starlabs for the testing of a new device that will allow UNSGC personnel to detect contaminated personnel at a distance. However, this then became a request for me to accompany a team going through the gate to test the TD14/71 device. This device promises to be a big break through for UNSGC operational practices. I had heard rumours of work on this device in the past and Dr. Carter had put in some suggestions into its design brief, but the team under Professor Farqhuar had finally made the big breakthrough. I looked forward to meeting them all. The gate out to C042A was at 16.16 hundred hours with the return gate at 17.48 hundred hours.

Though I was initially scheduled to go on this mission I was called at short notice to go again to Porton Down. I passed Professor Farqhuar and Dr. Helen Weaver with the TD14/71 development team in on my way out. With them were Dr. Jane Thompson, Dr. Colin Morgan and Dr. Alan Smith. I nodded a greeting to Helen in passing, as she was a colleague I had the pleasure of dining with on several occasions. Her admiration for Professor Farqhuar was quite well known and this was no doubt the reason that she was going with him to test the TD14/71 device. After the meeting I met by Col. Burgess, who chatted to me briefly. He was very flattering and made it clear that my superiors could rely on my work and appreciated the attention I paid to my duties. I normally have very little contact with the Colonel and I wondered why he should take the time to talk to me now?

When I returned to Base 51 Mjr. Appleby confronted me. He demanded to know what I knew about the security leak and Col. Law? He was quite irate at me for not admitting anything to him. I denied knowing anything, because he was one of the two prime suspects for being the mole and a potential assassin. It did seem very odd to me that he should be so upset that I might know something. When he threatened me with dire consequences, I felt sure that he was the mole who had been ordered to assassinate Sgt. Vorsfelde and probably Col. Law too. I suspected that he feared that Col. Law had blown his cover. I feel strongly that had we not been seen entering a room in front of witnesses I would have been killed there and then.
However, my bluff held and I felt reasonably sure that if I could avoid an unforeseen accident, then Mjr. Appleby could do nothing to harm me. Perhaps Gen. Courtney knew this and wanted to keep the Major on base? So that he could keep a close eye on him. I have noticed that the General likes to grandstand occasionally, with flourishes of orders to reveal information that cast him in the best possible light. The evidence fitted together and it all started to make some sort of sense to me. Fortunately, I had to get ready for my next mission, which allowed me to escape the attention of Mjr. Appleby.

I don't remember exactly when I heard Gen. Courtney talking on the phone to Col. Burgess at Porton Down. However, I do remember that Col. Law was helping with the enquiries into the security leak. While there had been allegations that Col. Law had given AD456 to Mjr. Hambrook (retired), no evidence to support this had been found. When I heard that Gen. Courtney was blocking a request for Mjr. Appleby to go to Porton Down I had to wonder why? Quite clearly the general didn't like Col. Burgess and it has to be said that both men had made it abundantly clear that neither liked each other. However, surely Gen. Courtney would want the mole uncovered? If not, why not? How is it that Col. Burgess hasn't been reprimanded for his behaviour towards Gen. Courtney? Why is it that some people refer to the General as the Brigadier?
If Col. Law is being detained at Porton Down and he is the mole, why has an announcement not been made? I hear later that Col. Law has implicated Mjr. Appleby. If this is true, why doesn't the General send Mjr. Appleby to Porton Down? Is he covering up, or is it politics? With Col. Law away, he quite clearly can't be the assassin, though he may be the mole. If this is true then the situation is worse than I feared.

Mission 4

Intelligence Summary: No information about world or conditions. Joint mission with corporate affiliates. 2 contacts encountered coming through the gate who identified themselves as in the employ of Nakamura corp. It would appear that they were contaminated as they were able to activate the gate themselves. 1 team member lost off world. A Dr Misuku of Tiger Industries, left the team perimeter alone and refused to re-join for the second gate back. Described as 'acting odd'.

After Action Reports:

Cpt. Morticia Ash, SO, 51st Scientific Division

I found that not only was I in command, since we had a scientific objective, but that this was also to be a pathfinder mission. In addition there were going to be a group of corporate types coming along as well. To say the least this added a considerable burden to my already frazzled nerves. Everything that could go wrong on this mission, pretty much did.
The gate out to P308B was at 21.50 hundred hours with two return gate times available to the team. The first at 23.09 hundred hours and I think the other was 40 minutes later. I'm not completely sure as I lost the notes for this in the confusion. The corporate representatives going offworld were; Dr. Ruskov of Nakamura, Dr. Max Claymore of PolaRack, Dr. Dominic Phelps of Corvus Corporation, Dr. Misuku of Tiger Industries and Dr. Ian Davis of General Transmission Corporation.
We arrived offworld and deployed as per SOP. The corporate people acted like they were on some all expense paid junket and could do whatever they damn well pleased. They didn¹t seem to understand that this was a volunteer only pathfinder mission and what that meant. I can only imagine that the corporations who sent them would be grateful if they lost the lot of them. To say that they were causing Cpt Vosloo and myself considerable problems would be to understate the case. We would have had an easier time trying to herd cats.

While we were trying to retain a secure perimeter, with the civilians safely inside, the gate activated and we saw two men came through. One of whom was shining a very powerful lantern in a casual unconcerned way. Dr. Stokes challenged them and ordered them to switch off the light. Then the strangers starting kicking up a fuss. By the time Cpt Vosloo and myself had walked over to the ruckus Dr. Stokes had shot them both in the chest. I ordered them bandaged and revived so that we could question them. On reflection I wish I hadn't, because they just kicked off again and I had to threaten to shoot one to shut him up. This unfortunately had the effect of causing our corporate guests to get jittery.

The two men identified themselves as John David Thomas and David Ainsworth of Nakamura. On hearing this Dr. Ruskov, also of Nakamura, came over to question them. He got into quite a heated discussion. While all of this was going on I was told that Dr. Misuku of Tiger Industries had wondered off. Lt Brown and myself then proceeded to sweep the area to find him, while Cpt Vosloo and Sgt Vorsfelde kept our remaining guests safe. I noticed that Lt. Stokes was acting most weird. He was standing behind the corporate representatives, not as if he were guarding them, but as if he were about to slot the lot of them.

Dr. Misuku had run off and while we thought we got glimpses of him in the distance he didn't respond to our calls. During this period I heard the gate sound again. We returned to our rendezvous point to be told that Thomas and Ainsworth had somehow activated the gate and made their escape in the confusion. It was at this point that I decided to scrub the science mission and return the team with the first gate.

Since it was now no longer a science mission, command fell to Cpt Vosloo to do a search and rescue sweep. He and Sgt Vorsfelde called for volunteers to help search for Dr. Misuku. I took the most of the corporates back with me, though Dr. Ruskov insisted on helping with the search. He claimed he was a keen outdoorsman with good night vision. When the rest of the team returned later they reported that Dr. Misuku was acting odd and refusing to come with the team. He kept himself sufficiently out of a clear line of fire and Cpt Vosloo expressed a reluctance to chase down and shoot an unarmed civilian. As it might have drawn untoward attention to the denuded team offworld. Afterwards I fell into bed exhausted.

Mission 5

Intelligence Summary: No summary possible due to lack of offworld data.

After Action Reports:

Cpt. Morticia Ash, SO, 51st Scientific Division

The Sunday morning mission was to C177A. The gate out was at 09.50 hundred hours, with the return gate scheduled for 11.09 hundred hours. I was ordered out to do a perimeter patrol. Probably as punishment for the failure of last nights mission? I heard that Col. Burgess was meeting the Science team at Porton Down. He was informing them of the investigation into the hijacking and theft of the scientific equipment stolen in transit to from Porton Down to Base 51 on the Saturday night.

He implied that very few people in the chain of command knew about the time and route of the shipment. Only his team and the command team at Base 51 apparently had all the information. It was obvious to me that Col. Burgess was furious at Gen. Courtney for blocking the Colonel's request for Mjr. Appleby to be sent to Porton Down for questioning. I remember overhearing Col. Burgess saying to the effect, "dam Courtney for being a stubborn pigheaded mule and didn't he realize that Appleby was implicated the last time a leak happened".

I returned from the perimeter patrol just in time for the final operation cycle debriefs. My actions at that time have been covered in a statement I made to the officer in charge of my arrest.

CON-039 Intelligence Debrief

TBA

Mission 1 Mission 2 Mission 3 Mission 4 Mission 5