Anarchy Online: TAG Magazine: Special Edition - Part 4: The Shooting of Philip Ross

The Shooting of Philip Ross
Omni-1 Entertainment District where Philip Ross was shot.
By Johnnathan Ryan

May 7 29479......a day we shall all remember. In the future when our children ask us,where were we when Philip Ross was shot, we will all be able to tell them. Not a single day goes by, even months after it happened, that I don't still ask, how could this happen or why?I am a neutral citizen, and I have no tie to Omni-Tek, nor do I feel any obligation to be kind to them. That is part of what makes me a decent editor (TAG being one of the few publications that does not accept any funding from either Omni-Tek or the Clans). But on May 7th, I think that we as Rubi-Kans felt that chest wound with Philip Ross that day.

As I write this article, new revelations about the investigation are starting to come to the light, and Philip Ross still remains in a Coma. Tarkhan Zora has just made his first public address and the world in which we live is changing. But how did it get here? Let's take a lookback at the events leading up to the shot heard across the planet, and some of the aftermath.

May 5th: Word begins to leak and speculations are made on the State of The CorporationSpeech which is a event that takes place every 5 years on Rubi-ka. Omni-Tek makes a statement on the income and expenses over the past fiscal periods, and addresses the current political and military state on Rubi-ka. The speculation on what Mr Ross will report generates a great interest among the Hyper corporations, The ICC and several high ranking officials of Omni-Tek. Several of them, including Eva Pouaris, Ivan Sergeyich and Rita Prestin send personal requests to attend the speech.

Security is beefed up in Omni-1. Grid terminals and Whompahs were also equipped with state of the art tracking programs. New turrets were planted on top of buildings and around enter and exit points near the speech, Omni-Pol and AF counts went up, and more mobile units dispatched into the area. Yes, speculation now wasn't where Ross was going to do thespeech, only when.

May 6th: More security is put in place for the speech. Uncommon grid nodes, used mostly byfixer professions are sent through a new Omni-Com filter, allowing traces in and out to be followed and tied to a identity program. Ironically, the security on the program was not as good as the security the program provided. It only took hours of its launch for Clan and neutral hackers to break the system and use it for their own tracking purposes.

A Medical exam is done on Philip Ross, which is actually pretty standard before any public appearances (or so they tell me). He is deemed in excellent health, and quite able to function in his role as CEO of Omni-Tek holdings on Rubi-ka. The Doctor who gives Ross the examination is Dr. Rita Prestin, Director of Omni-Med.
At the same time Omni-Pol is issued specific orders to double their patrol efforts. This puts several Pol officers into overtime, and ID checks of local citizens increases by 70%. The last pieces of security are sent in the form of Juggers and Slayerdroids to watch for any clan tags that may enter the area.

The security systems are given a test by Omni employees who stage a trial attack on the area. The systems are successful in reporting all information to Omni-Com, and it is declared a safe zone. This is of course from the official findings that are released to public. If there was a security measure unchecked, it was omitted from the report.

Philip Ross spends the night in his Executive apartment in Rome. It is said he made three transmissions throughout the evening to his advisors to go over the details of the speech. A fourth transmission was reported, but not confirmed. He sleeps soundly in his bed, awaiting his wake up call for the morning events.

May 7th

09:30: Security begins ID checks of any early morning workersheading in for Saturday shifts. No unusual activity to report.
10:10: Suppression Gas terminals are given a diagnostic to ensure that they are functioning properly. Diagnostic comes clean with no known errors.
10:15: An alarm goes off in the Omni-Trans offices. A whompah from Omni-1 Trade to Omni-1 Entertainment sends some corrupt information. Omni-Trans workers attend to the issue and by 10:17am all systems are repaired.
11:00: Philip Ross receives his wake up call. His cook says he had a short breakfast and cup of coffee before getting ready for the speech. A former aide says he spends some time practicing the speech in his living room until he feels he has the right tone.
11:15: The Transport for Ross and his staff is given a security check. There is an issue with the Pilot not having proper certification. He is taken to a holding cell and then released 2 hours later. In the meantime a new pilot is appointed and security checks come clean. The ship is ready.
15:22: Ivan Sergeyich and Eva Pouaris arrive at Omni-HQ to assist in preparations for Mr Ross to travel to and from the speech. It is said Ivan handled most of this work, while Eva spent most of her time fixing her hair.
16:00: Rita Prestin arrives at Omni-HQ to join the department heads on board the ship. Common small talk is exchanged between Rita and Eva while Ivan spends most of his time ranting with his officers on a comlink, to ensure everything is a go.
17:50: Philip Ross sends word that he is ready. Announcements begin in Omni-1 Entertainment that the State of the Corporation speech will be held shortly, inviting all Omni employees to attend. The transport is sent to Rome to pick up Mr Ross.
18:35: The flight is almost called off as a fuel line springs a leak. The issue is attended to quickly however and the pilot reports ready and able to take the big boss to the stage. Crowds begin to gather in Omni-1 Entertainment, most anxious to hear what Ross has to say.
18:55: Philip Ross enters the ship with 4 armed guards and Omni-Prime representative Korbensen. The transport immediately heads to Entertainment on his orders.
19:00: The Transport arrives on the platform. Ross, the department heads and the armed guards exit the ship, into an already well guarded Entertainment district. Newly constructed Turrets are given a diagnostic check. All systems are cleared.
19:35: Philip Ross begins his state of the corporation speech with "Loyal employees ofOmni-Tek, I would first of all like to thank you all for attending this very important event". How important an event I don't believe even Ross could predict.More crowds gathered, and Ross continued his speech. He spoke on opening the door to affiliates in future meetings. He seemed especially proud of this, pausing to smile after he said "These meetings will offer a glimpse in to the inner-workings of Omni-Tek,allowing the public to see first-hand what they're working so hard to preserve"
19:45: An error is reported to a suppressiongas terminal in Omni-1 HQ. It lasts for only 2 seconds, and the technician doesn't report it,thinking it was just a ghost in the machine.

At that exact moment Philip Ross is shot by an unknown assassin.

Ross falls to the ground. Blood spatters on Guards around him and the department leaders who are standing nearby. Several rush to his aid, including many of the crowd who were watching, prompting much confusion in the area. Security was put on full alert and some citizens had to be moved away from Ross by force.
19:50: Rita Prestin stabilizes Ross enough to move him to the tower north of the speech location, while they await a medical team to arrive. No Trace of the assassin or assassins are found in the area. They have already used a rare grid node to escape and make their way to the longest road.
19:52: A medical ship arrives on the platform to take him to an Omni-Med facility. Although there is a facility close by, the choice is made by Prestin to take him to the facility in Rome Green. It is assumed because the equipment is more up to date there, but no one could confirm.
19:53: Speculation begins on the status of Ross and insurance. He was always against the use of the technology, and it is feared his age may not allow a pattern to be stored.
21:30: Eva Pourais, Omni-Prime representative Korbensen and Omni-InternOps Representative Max meet in private with several Omni Affiliates. What was said in the meeting remains a secret, but the fact that there was a meeting was reported on Omni Radio station Society of Sound.
21:00: The medical ship arrives at the facility, and Ross is rushed into surgery. Without the knowledge of his Insurance patterns or lack there of, they do not consider a reclaim option.
21:10: Ivan Sergeyich makes a statement about the situation claiming "I have assigned allOmni-1 teams to begin an extensive investigation of not only the surrounding omni areas, but to follow any leads that take them into more hostile areas. Let me be clear. As far as I am concerned, this is a global crisis.", opening the door for Clan andNeutral arrests which end up taking place over the following days. The following weeks would lead to the arrest and questioning of several citizens, with no suspects. It is not until a Council of Truth session where Alan Jacobi, leader of the Vanguard clan begins an investigation of his own, fearing that Omni will be determined to punish all clans for this attack.

Omni-Prime representative Korbensen was said to do most of the questioning, actually leaving Omni-Pol officers as nothing more than observers in many cases. It is said Korbensen himself hand picked each of the clan and neutral citizens who were brought in for questioning. This can not be confirmed however
Jacobi's investigation, and activities lead Omni-Tek to name him prime suspect, and they invade the city of Old Athen In an attempt to arrest him. A Vanguard public relations person is killed, which leads to an all out fight between Clan and Omni in the city. The Omni'seventually pull out, but are not necessarily defeated. At the next council meeting, Jacobi steps down as lead in the investigation, due to these events.

Meanwhile, Philip Ross' condition is upgraded to stable, but he falls into a coma. Several days later he suffers from a mutagen virus that officials tie directly to the shooting. How the virus lay dormant for such a time without detection, no one will comment. However, the information Jacobi did find ended up leading both the clans and Omni-tek to the culprit of the attacks. The new security systems put in for the speech finally did their job, and traced the patterns. They ended up matching Dust Brigade patterns that had been recorded
in the past. Who was behind the shooting now became painfully clear. The virus on the other hand was not.

It may have gone overlooked if not for the actions of Omni-InternOps beginning an investigation into the Biomare facility in The Longest Road. There are rumors that the assassins themselves became victim of the virus, and mutated along with several other employees, the result of a twisted Lab Director, and his Dust Brigade Associates.

So what now? CEO Zora is on the way, and many speculate to bring a more military rule of the planet. Of course the ICC is still there to try and stop that sort of thing, and I am sure the other Hyper corporations are just waiting for a chance that Omni-Tek will break their lease, but that doesn't seem to be on anyone's mind. What is on everyone's mind now..."Is this Wartime?"So I can't help but wonder; what did Ross have in mindfor our future? He was so proud of the affiliate meetings to come, was he maybe ready to make some changes? Perhaps work in unity with the clans against the alien threat? Or maybe his intentions were to step down as CEO and go home to earth? We may never know now. Ross is still in a coma, his body mutating every moment from the virus, and already tensions are high on planet. Notum wars continue; City and outpost raids more common by rash Sentinels or gung ho Omni's, and still the alienthreat that lingers above. War Time?

Yeah.....weather we like it or not.Sources for this article are not to be revealed for their own safety, and agreed to speak with Editor Ryan on the condition of anonymity. All statements and time line information is only speculation based on the information provided and in no way claimed to be absolute fact.