Introduction from Agent Daniq

Submitted by Iain Stark - stark3designs@yahoo.co.uk
 

Right, first off let me introduce myself. My name is Agent Daniq; Professional Technical Assessment officer, hacker, amateur cyberneticist and Rank 4 Eurasian Incorporated Field Agent. Now, in exchange for Agent Henderson not pressing charges over the loss of his prized antique aircraft whilst it was technically in my care, I have ‘volunteered’ to provide a little technical advice every now and then for the new Agents out there - and for some of the more experienced ones as well.

Okay, now I know that there are a whole load of new Agents right now. You've just got your light firearms license, your final cybernetic fitting scars have faded a bit and you've traded laser fire with your first UIG Officer. Okay, maybe not all of you have done the last bit, that might just have been my Division. Anyway, by this stage you've probably all opened the latest AMS / augmentation catalogue and looked at all the fantastic kit that your lowly starting pay cheque won't cover. However, this advice is not concerning weaponry or body mods, this is to do with getting your Division through its first few missions intact. Now, I've probably been on more than my fair share of dangerous missions and there are a few things you need to have in your Division if you’re going to survive when the lab you're raiding turns out to have a few nasty surprises in it.

First off, and I can't stress this enough, is med packs, lots of them, preferably the intravenous ones but to be honest even the standard ones are so easy to use that any idiot can patch someone up. Because as long as you're on your feet you can make whoever is shooting at you pay for the excessive plasma damage they've inflicted on your designer suit.

Secondly, hard ion shields. These kind of speak for themselves. My advice is rather than buying new, see what the less-than-perfect-condition market is offering on these babies and get the biggest one you can afford. Now, I know it might not be quite as reliable as one fresh from Aegis but when the boys from the Western Federation start pouring fire at you, you’ll be glad of those extra seconds of shielding.

Finally, a category of equipment rather than an item, the stuff I call ­contingency reserve equipment. This is the stuff that gets you through situations which either aren't supposed to be there or crop up due to personnel error. You know, the Murder Class droid that wasn’t mentioned in the brief or when your entry guy is too baked on Tamba to operate the security bypass device. Items in this category include Plasma Cutters, Inaugurate, Bingo Wings, Liquid Alloy, Knockout Grenades, EMP Grenades and Toxin Purges. Oh, and if your mission is going anywhere near the Shi Yukiro you’ll probably want to throw in a canister or two of Compound H, trust me on this one. Now I am not saying everyone in your Division should carry three of each of these things but throughout your team you should try to cover most of them.

Right that’s probably enough for now to cover my debt for the time being, good luck to you guys and hopefully most of you will survive long enough to read my next posting.

Daniq