OUS Sector Cabal
About fifteen years ago, a series of MSSPRPs (Mandatory Self-Selecting Populist Research Polls) conducted by HPD&MC indicated many Alpha Citizens would prefer that Commie_Mutant_Traitors genuinely suffer long-term for their treason instead of merely being swiftly and efficiently executed. 1 Obviously, it was impractical to drain Internal Security or Armed Forces resources into actively abusing (but not killing) CMTs, and even the use of 'bots was cost-ineffective. The problem seemed intractable for a time, until Internal Security thinktanker Nefar-I-OUS-3 proposed the idea of a sealed-off prison into which Traitors of all sorts could be thrown and simply left to prey on each other. After several design drafts 2, he finally settled on the monolithic structure that eventually became known as the Leaning_Tower_of_Treason.
1 It has since been demonstrated through application of the Zeta_Vector_Principle that keeping traitors of any sort alive long-term produces diminishing (and eventually negative) returns, and in general, CMTs are now only kept alive as long as they are producing demonstrably useful information under interrogation.
2 His first design draft called for evacuating NYC Sector, cutting off all corridors, transbot tubes, ventilation shafts, etc., and sending CMTs into it via one-way ballistic launch. This design was abandoned when news of the plan leaked to the residents of NYC Sector, who pre-emptively sealed themselves off and viciously defended themselves against all attempts to evacuate them. It was clear that any CMTs launched into NYC wouldn't last any longer than the Vulture Squads sent to oversee the evacuation. The second design draft suggested using HEL Sector instead, and was the first draft to add additional discomfort above and beyond the poor quality of the Sector itself, such as flamethrowers, endless treadmills, and self-guided FlogBombs. Access would have been via a one-way dropvator known as the ABYSS (Accelerated Bottom-Yard Service System). This second design was scuttled by Loose-I-FER-1, presumably because he was already formulating his own plans for HEL.
It was unclear at the time why Nefar-I, and his R&D engineering peer Notor-I-OUS-7, chose their own home Sector as the place to build such a monstrous thing, but we now know that, by the time the final draft of the Leaning Tower was approved, they had an ulterior motive in place, and an alternate use for the Tower in mind. We don't know how many Citizens of OUS Sector were involved in their Cabal, but at least three were placed in the Leaning_Tower_of_Treason at the time of its activation, about three and a half years ago: Fur-I-OUS-4, Dange-R-OUS-1, and Insid-I-OUS-3 were deliberately established within the Tower in order to build a power structure, a ruthless criminal organization that would be honed to a brutal edge. Sectors all over Alpha eagerly dumped captured CMTs into the Tower; the OUS Sector Cabal quickly weeded out the useless ones, and added the useful ones to their own power base. Notor-I and Nefar-I remained outside, using a variety of secret communication methods they had built into the Tower's structure to coordinate and control the growing organization inside.
A little less than two years ago, the Cabal decided to leave the Tower. It is unclear what their reasons were. Perhaps they felt they had enough power to effect whatever goal they had for Alpha Complex at large. Perhaps there was a schism within the Cabal powerbase, leading to a premature breakout. Either way, very shortly after the near-simultaneous retirements (and subsequent disappearances) of Notor-I and Nefar-I, 3 the hundreds-strong force of the Cabal broke out of the Tower and overwhelmed the Armed Forces cordon that had been around the Tower since it began operation-- a cordon that had, understandably, become known as something of an easy, lax assignment during its year and a half of operation.
3 There have been sporadic, but unsubstatiated, claims that Nefar-I was spotted in nearby OAT Sector. If true, this might be the smoking gun showing a connection between the OUS Sector Cabal and the two GREEN Clearance Citizens of OAT Sector that have been relevant to this report so far. It is, of course, an unfortunate coincidence that my own OUT Sector lies directly adjacent to both OUS Sector and OAT Sector. OUT was one of several Sectors that bore the brunt of the escaped inmates, those first several weekcycles, and though we managed to eventually drive them elsewhere, the Sector has never really recovered. I have asked OUT Sector's head of Internal Security, Call-U-OUT-8, to follow up on the possible OUS-OAT connection as a personal favor to me. He seems amenable.
Low-Clearance summaries of the resulting fight (distributed in Documentaries such as The Thin Infrared Line) have been approved for Positive Information_Distortion), and claim that the brief battle that followed largely contained and destroyed the inmates, that most of those who slipped away from the battle were captured and terminated within weekcycles, and that the few who remain no longer have any cohesive power structure, meaning that the Cabal effectively no longer exists. VIOLET Clearance summaries, of course, tell us a different story: After a brief battle, the vast majority of those incarcerated 4 within the Tower escaped into the Complex, almost none of them have been recaptured or terminated that we know, and substantial evidence exists to suggest that they remain functional, organized, and focused on a large scale, acting as one of the largest (perhaps the largest) MOBs (Manipulative Operations Business) in Alpha, active in every aspect of CRIME (Commercial Racketeering and Illegal Monetary Exploitation). 5 As such, they surely had ties to all the Secret_Societies_Involved_In_the_Toothpaste_Disaster at the time of the Disaster, and one or more of the incidents which led up to, occurred during, or followed the Disaster may have been their doing, at least in part.
4 Based on IntSec and AF best estimates; detailed records were not kept regarding who was thrown into the Tower, or how many CMTs were thrown in, since it was assumed these individuals would never be heard from again.
5 Including, but not limited to: extortion, laundering of credit licenses, filesharing, paid assassination, distribution of pharmaceuticals without authorization, printing of bumper stickers, bootleg clone replacement, falsification of ME Card records, tampering with email, assisting with escape into the Outdoors, 'bot theft, gambling, inflating PLC budget estimates, resisting surveillance, and manufacture of foodstuffs not conforming to the Thirty-one_Official_Flavors.
The Tower was officially retasked as housing for INFRARED_Citizens after the breakout, but never put to work as such. This is because the OUS Sector Cabal was still using it-- or parts of it-- as a base of operations. Notor-I and Nefar-I never actually left OUS Sector, and continued to run the Cabal from there, at least up until the time of the Disaster. It appears that the League_of_Extraordinary_Dadaists did indeed build an access point for their XOR-I/Ent_X-Press Transbot under the Tower, but it was not built prior to the Disaster, when they were still the League of Extreme Communism. It is a post-Disaster addition, added as part of whatever insane mission they now believe they are fulfilling. 6
6 Among the several other X-Press access points I've found evidence of is one in MAH Sector, which I believe Drake-U-LAH-1 escaped to after reading the Manifesto_Out_of_Space_and_Time, allowing him to evade our attempts to locate and capture him. It is likely that he is continuing to use the X-Press to move around the Complex.
I have learned this information because, despite the risk to myself, I have managed to make contact with an individual who has identified himself as a low-level member of the OUS Sector Cabal itself. Speaking to me on conditions of anonymity, 7 this individual has informed me that the Cabal's goals are generally fairly abstract, primarily involved with making a lot of money by any means necessary. They do not appear to have a specific political agenda, nor are they particularly interested in the goals or dogma of any of the known Secret Societies. 8 However, in the time since the Disaster, they have become directly embroiled in conflict with and against the League_of_Extraordinary_Dadaists, ever since the latter gained access to the Tower and began using it as an access station.
7 Hein-Y-OUS-2.
8 They do maintain a specific and cordial relationship with Free Enterprise, "purely for business reasons".
If the LED (and their newest "recruit", Drake-U-LAH-1) are truly up to something that must be stopped, as much as I hate to admit it, we may have an ally (temporarily) in the OUS Sector Cabal.
-- Knok-U-OUT-6
Refs: Commie_Mutant_Traitors, Leaning_Tower_of_Treason, Documentaries, Information_Distortion, Secret_Societies_Involved_In_the_Toothpaste_Disaster, INFRARED_Citizens, League_of_Extraordinary_Dadaists, XOR-I/Ent_X-Press, Zeta_Vector_Principle, Loose-I-FER-1, Thirty-one_Official_Flavors, Manifesto_Out_of_Space_and_Time
Commentary:
Can anyone determine the whereabouts of Innoc-U-OUS-2 during this period, and of her relationship, if any, with the Cabal? None of my records indicate any aggressive action on her part, either to support or undermine the Cabal. I find this non-involvement suspicious.
-- Jan-U-ARY-31
Not every Citizen of OUS Sector is part of the Cabal, certainly. I've been questioning a great many of them the last couple of days, since OUS is so close to OUT, and most of them seem like affable, harmless sorts. Scintillating HPD&MC vidstar Gorg-Y-OUS-3... lowly Vat stirrer Ridicul-OUS... Vigo-R-OUS... Victor-I-OUS... Lots of perfectly fine, average Citizens.
I see your point, however. There are a number of OUS Sector senior staff who seem to have no connection one way or the other to the Cabal. I assume Suspic-I-OUS-4 and Myster-I-OUS-2 must know something about them, as they both worked directly for Nefar-I in Internal Security when they were mere YELLOWs. But what about their boss, Ner-V-OUS-6, and the new head of OUS IntSec policy, Ambig-U-OUS-2? And I'd like to have a few words with Inconspic-U-OUS-1, but he's proven difficult to find. I did work at some length all day yesterday with their senior HPD&MC programming directors, Sens-U-OUS-3 and Volupt-U-OUS-1, but it turns out they don't know much about it.
-- Knok-U-OUT-6
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