Alkaev

OBJECTIVE: Locate and Eliminate Nikolai Alkaev

STATUS: Failed

PRECIS:

Investigator Pourais was tasked with the location and neutralization of Nikolai Alkaev, a rogue MICIR scientist defecting to the Resistance with Praetorian military secrets. (Defecting? That seems a bit harsh. I merely found my interests at odds with that of certain directors.) Alkaev was tracked to Junction 21-B of the Imperial City Underground. Officers pursued but initially failed to locate the target. In response Pourais divided her unit to secure all exits. (Not the best tactic, in my opinion, but then I’m not the Investigator here.) At this time contact was incrementally lost with each team. Personal investigation revealed casualties consistent with friendly fire and psychokinetic concussions. DNA matching on recovered blood and tissue samples indicates Alkaev was wounded during these engagements. (That’s a nice way of putting it. I blocked a force bolt with what were, up till then, perfectly good arms.) Pourais chose to withdraw her unit after sustaining heavy casualties, and is currently facing disciplinary action.

TARGET DOSSIER:

Nikolai Alkaev served as a MICIR researcher under S-Branch for ten years. He worked primarily on—My word, this dossier contained false information! I’ve fixed it for you, and updated all of the backups to prevent those time-consuming version mismatches:

Dr. Nikolai Alkaev (yours truly), did indeed serve as a MICIR researcher, and a fantastic one at that if I do say so myself. Let’s dispense will all those deceptive abbreviations, and just state for the record that I worked on cybernetic neural implants and the Seer Indoctrination Procedure. (Whose details are rather unpleasant, so I’ll spare you the discomfort of reading them.)

There is one interesting point you should know, though. Command and control of the Seer network never came without a price tag: augmentation and indoctrination techniques integral to the Procedure ensured that every Seer off the assembly line was on the fast track to neural burn out and had just enough higher mental functionality to take orders and respond to threats. Now I don’t know about you, but the concept of free will appeals to me, and I would like to hang on to if at all possible. While working on a new kind of Seer implant specifically designed amplify short-range psionic powers, I happened upon a way to decouple the indoctrination process from the implant interfacing system. Long story short, these new Seers would have essentially all the benefits of psychic powers and a Seer Network link without the associated Network control. Noble of me, no? Preserving free will and making sure that even those who don't want their personalities burned away can join the Seers and help Praetoria?

Well, sadly, Praetor Tilman disagreed. I found out that she was planning on burying both my research and I, which was simply unacceptable. So like any good scientist I tested my implant on myself, to be sure it was safe, of course. Though the new powers certainly were a nice benefit (and, coincidentally, rather aided in my...let us say, relocation).

So I put a few blinds into the Seer network. That way I wouldn’t have to bother those hard-working women if I needed to put my own well-being in front of the Emperor's every now and then. Then I made a deal with those charming Syndicate gentlemen, who really are entirely legitimate businessmen, you know. They provided the logistical support I needed to get to the Underground, where I was able to enjoy the protection that the Resistance's enmity of the Praetors affords until I could arrange for transportation to the Etoile Isles in Primal Earth. Not that I consider the Praetors anything but the most upstanding of people, but obviously Tilman has her own interests at heart first and foremost. One of which is seeing me reduced to a greasy smear, which I think I rather understandably object to.

Work is plentiful here, at least. It’s amazing how many interesting people want things done for (or to) other interesting people, and how much they’re willing to pay in order to facilitate a solution (especially if their involvement is the deniable kind which isn’t provable in any legally binding way).

So go ahead and chase me if you really want, but why not stop and consider who you’re really working for. Am I truly a threat to the Emperor, for whom I labored for years? Or is it that Praetor Tilman is the rogue operative trying to use the organization for her own ends? Want to be a new breed of Seer, with free will and more power than any of the Visionaries out there? Let’s talk. Want to eliminate me because your boss lady pulled your puppet strings and promised you a cookie? Well then, our meeting may be less pleasant. (For one us, at least. By which I mean you. By which I mean I’ll make sure my friend Doc Buzzsaw has a new batch of spare people parts. Just to be clear.)

-Dr. Nikolai Alkaev