Cutscene:
[Russian Airspace over the White Sea]
[November 3rd, 2004 - 08:38 hours]
(Sam Fisher and Vernon Wilkes, Jr. are inside the Osprey. Wilkes is attempting to connect to Sarah Fisher via phone line, while Sam is reading something on a screen next to him.)
Vernon Wilkes, Jr.: What's that you're reading?
Sam Fisher: Flash notes on the US Soldiers. How's that connection coming?
Wilkes: I don't think Sarah's home.
Irving Lambert: (through Sam's earpiece) Fisher.
Sam: Lambert?
(Lambert watches Sam on a monitor at the NSA Headquarters.)
Lambert: You're going to be signal-hunting the next couple of missions. We traced the data stream as far as a nuclear power plant called Nadezhda, and we lose it there.
Sam: Encryption?
Lambert: Partly. But it has more to do with the nature of Nikoladze's network. It's been cobbled together from microwave relays, local lines, line-of-sight stuff, anything they could find. I'll come back with more details once you're on the ground.
Sam: (to Wilkes) What do you got for me?
Wilkes: No answer, man. Here, you can leave a message.
(Wilkes hands the phone to Sam.)
Sarah: (recording) Hi. We can't come to the phone right now, so please leave a message. Thanks.
Sam: Sarah? Sarah, If you're there, pick up. This is Fisher... I mean Dad. I'm just checking up on ya, I'm sure you're fine. It was real good to see you. You can leave me a message at my office when you get this. Just let me know you're doing alright. Bye.
(Sam puts down the phone and looks out the window as the Osprey continues en route to the Power Plant.)
End Cutscene.
News:
[November 3, 2004]
Morris Odell: ...revealed moments ago, caught US intelligence completely by surprise. The video webcast by their Georgian captors shows the soldiers mistreated, but in apparent good health. The army has not yet released the identity...
Morris Odell: President David Bowers personally thanked agents of the FBI for their patriotic heroism in the Halloween night apprehension of three Georgian mercenaries from the Kalinatek building in downtown Langley.
Morris Odell: All three Georgian mercenaries have been identified as current employees of the Russian Secret Service. NATO inspectors and US intelligence have begun focusing their search for Kombayn Nikoladze on Russia and it's satellites. Though the Kremlin has denied any involvement, diplomatic relations have become...
Morris Odell: NATO inspectors are meeting light resistance in their investigation into Russia's possible support of Kombayn Nikoladze's campaign of terror against the United States. Diplomatic channels remain open, but grow more strained with each...
Morris Odell: ...has called the Georgian Information Crisis 'a hi-tech Vietnam', citing the enormous cost, ambiguous cause, and bewildering loss of...
Morris Odell: ...said that Russia must cooperate more fully with NATO inspectors if they wish to avoid an escalation to hostility.
General: What is the Kremlin trying to hide?
End News.
In Game:
(Sam begins in an engine room on the second floor of a warehouse at the Power Plant.)
Irving Lambert: Alright, Fisher, we're hunting an antenna. You're gonna have to cut down on the background noise before we'll be able to pull any electronic intel out of the ether, hence the meltdown alert. Details on your OpSat.
(Sam bypasses a camera and a guard wearing a Russian military uniform on the lower level before leaving the building and going across the snowy field to the next building, bypassing a few more guards along the way.)
Sam Fisher: You get a look at those stiffs, Lambert?
Lambert: Yeah. Did those uniforms look as Russian in person as they did on camera?
Sam: Yep. Can you think of any good reasons for the Russian Army to be here?
Lambert: None that I like.
(Sam heads inside to the interior of the Plant. He climbs a few pipes and crawls through an opening, leading to the roof of a building, where he overhears chatter between two Russian Army soldiers.)
Soldier 1: Well, if anybody gets too suspicious, we can just go dump them in the lake.
Soldier 2: I guess nobody's gonna look for them in this big nowhere.
Soldier 1: I gotta get back to my patrol.
Soldier 2: Right. Later.
(Sam gets past them and heads into the building.)
Lambert: Heads up. About two-thirds of Nadezhda is still active, pumping out power for Mother Russia. So keep an eye out for collaterals.
Sam: Why would the Russians allow Nikoladze's people to use the plant?
Lambert: We'll handle the politics, Fisher. Your mission's the antenna.
(Sam drops down through an air vent and ends up on top of an elevator. Two plant employees enter the elevator and it begins to descend as they talk.)
Employee 1: We had soldiers come to the plant in the '80s. Escorting military scientists, I think.
Employee 2: That was the '80s.
Employee 1: And it was only a dozen soldiers.
Employee 2: And I haven't seen any scientists. But their paperwork is in order.
Employee 1: I guess. But it's strange.
Employee 2: If our military needs the plant, fine. I don't argue with armed men.
(The elevator reaches the bottom floor and the employees step out. Sam dips below the elevator and sneaks underneath it, emerging on the nearby catwalks. He encounters another soldier and some plant employees.)
(If Sam kills an employee:)
Lambert: Whoa, Fisher. Those employees are civilians. We're walking on eggshells with the Russians as is. We can't afford for you to be making things worse.
(Sam continues and eventually drops below the catwalks again, entering through a crawlspace. Above him, a door opens, and a technician and a plant employee both walk through.)
Employee 3: Hey Esfir, I was looking for you. You got rid of that Flash RAM with the cooling rod access code, right?
Esfir: Oh, right... I'll do that straight away.
Employee 3: You've got to. Anybody finds out I gave that to you, and I'm out of a job.
Esfir: Consider it done.
(Sam emerges from the crawlspace, grabs Esfir from behind, and interrogates him.)
Sam: Hey, Esfir, I was looking for you.
Esfir: What!?
Sam: Stay quiet until you hear a question. I need to get into the cooling rod control room.
Esfir: I don't know- ah!
Sam: Wait for the question. Ready? Here it is: What's the access code for the control room?
Esfir: 560627.
Sam: Good.
(If Sam interrogates again:)
Sam: What's your connection to the military?
Esfir: What? Don't hurt me, I don't understand.
Sam: This place is crawling with Russian soldiers. What are they doing here?
Esfir: I don't know, this is Russia. Maybe they live here.
(If Sam interrogates again:)
Sam: You're not very helpful.
Esfir: Please don't hurt me.
(If Sam interrogates once more:)
Esfir: That's all I know, I swear.
(Sam subdues him and moves on. He bypasses several more soldiers, employees, and security cameras to eventually reach the control room. Here, he uses 4 seperate terminals to trigger the meltdown. Hordes of plant employees begin to flee the plant.)
P.A.: All personnel evacuate immediately! Meltdown alert! Meltdown alert! Radiation hazard! Please proceed to the nearest exit! Report radiation exposure to medical personnel immediately!
Lambert: Great work, Fisher. You should see our Darkstar view of the plant, It's like we flooded an anthill.
(Sam begins to head back up the stairs and out of the control room.)
Lambert: The Russian troops are ignoring the alert.
Sam: You think they know it's a hoax?
Lambert: That or they're being paid a lot of money. A whole lot of activity just sprang up around the waste disposal trains. I'll keep you updated.
(Sam takes out an incoming troop and heads to an adjacent room with ascending stairs.)
Lambert: Go ahead, Grim.
Anna Grimsdottir: I took a look at the train yard on a lower spectrum. Somehow those barrels of nuclear waste are the only part of this plant not emitting radiation
Lambert: Needless to say, it's got our interest. Objective updates on your OpSat.
(Sam heads up the stairs and across the hallway.)
Lambert: Extraction just got problematic on account of the false meltdown. Jr. Wilkes says he's not going to be able to get within 30 kilometers of the plant. Keep your eyes peeled for local locomotion.
(Sam bypasses a turret and another guard and heads into another engine room. In it is another technician, this one wearing a hat. Sam grabs him and proceeds to interrogate.)
Sam: Not a sound. If you talk when I'm not asking, your life becomes short and painful. Understand?
Technician: *winces in pain* ...yes.
Sam: Good. What's being loaded onto the train?
Technician: I don't know. Something heavy. Something dangerous.
Sam: Convince me you don't know.
Technician: I just monitor the dials. The contents are checked by network. But...
Sam: But what?
Technician: I think they might contain nuclear waste.
Sam: Why?
Technician: The way they treat it. I've seen one of the compartments empty. The walls were 10 centimeters thick at least.
Sam: Where is this train heading?
Technician: I don't know. China? India? Further into Russia? The tracks branch.
Sam: You don't know much.
Technician: It's so true.
(If Sam keeps interrogating:)
Sam: Why do they trust somebody who knows so little to do so important a job?
Technician: I am security. The less people know, the less information that escapes.
(If Sam interrogates once more:)
Technician: That's all I know, I swear.
(Sam subdues him.)
Lambert: The logs say they're shipping Americium 239. A fine grade nuclear waste. A study a few years back showed how it could be refined to weapons grade. This isn't good. I'll get back to you.
(Sam leaves the room via an air duct and emerges in a room across from the turret from earlier.)
Lambert: We still can't detect reasonable amounts of radiation coming off that train. Those containers must be lined with a few good inches of lead.
Sam: Meaning they're shipping it somewhere they expect it to be watched.
Lambert: We'll keep picking apart the logs. You need to find that relay.
(As Sam leaves the room, he can hear the chatter between two incoming guards.)
Soldier 3: A day's pay.
Soldier 4: A day's pay that the shipment is plutonium?
Soldier 3: No. I'll bet you a day's pay that it's radioactive.
Soldier 4: Of course it's radioactive! Everything in this godforsaken place is radioactive.
Soldier 3: So you are taking the bet?
Soldier 4: No. I need to get back on the catwalks.
(Sam proceeds through a keypad-locked glass double door. He then continues down a dark series of hallways.)
Lambert: We want you to check out Nadezhda's communications center. They've been broadcasting the same monotonous weather reports and production statistics despite the rest of the factory being on a state of alert. Tap in and see what you can find.
(Sam enters an office area that appears to have been ransacked. He slips past another turret and security camera and enters the communications center. After bypassing a couple of guards in the computer room, he enters the main communications room, where another technician is using a laptop.)
Technician 2: Christ, Yuvchenko, you took your sweet time. What was all that noise out there? ...Fine, don't answer. Christ, but this thing is complicated.
(Sam sneaks up behind the Technician and grabs him.)
Sam: Stay quiet. You don't want your life to end in the boys' room. I want you to answer some questions.
Technician 2: Okay.
Sam: Why is the Russian military here?
Technician 2: *pant* *pant* ...we are assisting in the removal of waste. It's a government initiative for- GAH!
Sam: That's what happens when you lie. Again. Why are you here?
Technician 2: *gasp* ...we're not really military. The uniforms are salvaged.
Sam: Who do you work for?
Technician 2: Georgians. Kombayn Nikoladze. I answer to a Russian. I... I don't want to say his name.
Sam: Vyacheslav Grinko?
Technician 2: I didn't tell you!
(If Sam interrogates again:)
Sam: What do you need a nuclear power plant for?
Technician 2: At first, it was just another microwave relay. But now, we've started shipping things east. I don't know what we're shipping. Not many people do.
Sam: Where's it going?
Technician 2: I don't know. But the script on the receiving logs looks Chinese.
(If Sam keeps interrogating:)
Technician 2: I'm sorry I lied. Please don't hurt me!
(or:)
Technician 2: I don't know anything else.
(Sam subdues him and uses the laptop.)
Lambert: Is that our signal, Grim?
Grim: I don't think... wait. There! Jesus, that's clever. Masse was using Wavelength Division Multiplexing.
Sam: You don't say. Hm.
Grim: They were hiding their signal in the spaces between Nadezhda's.
Lambert: Then we got it. Back to you in a second, Fisher.
Sam: Lambert, I've got an extraction plan.
Lambert: Go ahead.
Sam: I'll stow away on the disposal train. Tell Wilkes to meet me 35 kilometers down the tracks.
Lambert: Will do. There's a door down the hall that will take you right there.
(Sam heads through said door and toward a flight of stairs.)
Lambert: Grimsdottir's got her trace on the relay. These files look like they'll clear the Russian government of any involvement. It's time you figure out a way to get out of there.
(Sam heads up the stairs and slips past a couple more 'soldiers'. He comes across a keypad locked door.)
Grim: Plant security says it's key code locked, but I think I can... Yeah. I just put the keypad code for the door on your OpSat.
(Sam enters the code and proceeds through the door. He slides down a pipe to the bottom floor garage. After giving two more 'soldiers' the slip, he opens the exit door to freedom.)
End Mission.