The Let's Play Archive

Syphon Filter

by Lunethex, et al

Part 25: :lol:

Sorry for the wait, we just didn't get to record last week. YouTube was also taking far, far too long on uploading out of nowhere - 3 hours for the first video but the 2nd was fine. Doesn't bode well methinks.

Update 25 -
Alternative, Oh NNNOOO not LOGAN!


Syphon Filter Dark Mirror Episode 1 - Alaska 1
Gabe and Lian are on the case as the US Govt. assigns them to an operation at an Alaskan refinery owned by multinational corporation KemSynth, currently under attack by a paramilitary group of mercenaries and thugs known as Red Section! Although the drop was hot and their enemies knew they were coming, nobody, not even a legion of Nolan North impersonators, could ever be ready for the horror that is Gabriel "Taser" Logan.
Syphon Filter Dark Mirror Episode 2 - Alaska 2
Things heat up in the race for answers. What is Project Dark Mirror? What were Kreisler and Freeman working on? Just why do people keep teleporting in this game? Nothing matters to Logan, though, because there are still more people yet to be set on fire in this next episode of American sponsored war crimes.


Evidence so far
I would post the in-game text like before but because of the handheld's resolution, all the text doesn't fit on one screen and it's faster to transcribe it this way than stitching together a bunch of images

Main Game Evidence posted:

Ep1-1
Evidence #1
List of names. I’ve found a computer generated list of names. It seems to be a list of all the KemSynth employees who have clearance to enter something called Security Section D. These names include Malcolm Freeman, the foreman, and William Kreisler, a lead technician. Who generated this list? Red Section? And how did they get inside information? –Gabe Logan

Evidence #2
ID card. I’ve found Freeman’s ID card, but I know that Freeman hasn’t been out here since the op began. This means Red Section has taken Freeman. Maybe they were using his card in an attempt to access secure areas? Or data banks? One thing is certain, Freeman would not have given up his ID willingly. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #3
Page from KemSynth safety manual. A Red Section soldier has ripped a page from the KemSynth safety manual which explains how to stop the distillation column from exploding if the release valves are accidentally closed. Obviously Red Section is not interested in safety. This shows how even the most innocent texts can be used for terrorism. –Gabe Logan

Ep1-2
Evidence #4
Jack Miller’s Body. I know this man. His name is Jack Miller, an NSA agent. What the hell is he doing here and dressed like a KemSynth technician? Before this op, we were given no briefing that indicated other agencies were running ops inside KemSynth. Again, something doesn’t add up. Jack was a good man. He still shows up in IR, so he can’t have been dead long. I hate leaving him here, in a
pool of his own blood. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #5
Requisition Forms. I’ve found a box of KemSynth requisition forms for sunlamps, grow lights, hydroponics tanks, water lines, and watering systems. What the hell would they need this for in an oil refinery? These are all signed by William Kreisler. Classified is stamped over his signature. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #6
Page from KemSynth safety manual. A Red Section soldier has ripped a page from the KemSynth safety manual which shows how all the maintenance tunnels connect together beneath the refinery. This elevator shaft leads down to the employee lounge and into the gas rooms. Red Section will be using the tunnels like rats in a tenement building. It’s time for extermination. –Gabe Logan

Ep 1-3
Evidence #7
Stack of KemSynth personnel papers. Red Section is looking for something. They’ve ransacked all of the employee lockers in the break room. Why? What are they looking for? And why do they think it would be hidden here? If KemSynth is a front for an NSA project, Freeman might have gotten advance notice that Red Section was coming, and could have hidden whatever it is that Red Section is looking for. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #8
Red Section orders. Another example of sloppy Red Section protocol. One of their soldiers did not destroy his orders after reading them. His team was instructed to search this part of the refinery. They are looking for an optical disk which could be hidden anywhere. Inside a TV, a pinball machine, a soda machine. Undisciplined bastards got distracted, apparently. More evidence that they are mercs. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #9
Hydroponics equipment. I’ve found a box of hydroponics equipment, bulbs designed especially for indoor grow lights. Is KemSynth running a drug lab? Growing illegal substances? Doesn’t seem likely. The NSA would not be involved with something as mundane as the drug trade. Then what? Why would KemSynth have a hydroponics lab at a remote Alaskan refinery? –Gabe Logan

Ep1-4
Evidence #10
Broken KemSynth valves. Inspecting the valves, it appears that specific gas valves have been opened by Red Section. This is further evidence that they came here knowing exactly what they had to do to create the most destruction possible. Whoever is running the operation, the man code named Black King, knows their way around a refinery. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #11
Dead KemSynth Technician. Red Section is slaughtering these guys. This man was burned alive, slowly tortured to death by gas flames. What kind of men could do such a thing? Watch silently as a man’s skin is burned off an inch at a time? I’ve found a hidden locker key in the technician’s coat liner. These Red Section thugs are so amateurish they can’t even do a proper search. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #12
Demolition instructions. One of the Red Section combat packs contained a schematic for the KemSynth gas room, including instructions for where to set charges on the accumulator and condensers, and the location of the reboiler machines. The evidence seems clear that Red Section came here with the intention of destroying the entire facility with surgically placed explosives. –Gabe Logan

Ep 1-5
Evidence #13
Freeman’s e-mail list. With the power restored I was able to search Freeman’s computer. Someone had tried to wipe the hard drive, but was sloppy. I was able to recover data, including Freeman’s list of email contacts. I recognized one of the names: Paul Smith, an alias used by NSA agent Jack Miller. Was KemSynth an NSA contractor? Have to keep digging. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #14
KemSynth transaction data. Data files on this computer reveal large sums of money were transferred from KemSynth Petroleum to a corporation called EDA Nine, and from Paul Smith to KemSynth. These are huge sums of money, adding up to millions of dollars. Whatever the NSA was paying KemSynth for, it was expensive. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #15
NSA Bug. I noticed that one of Freeman’s hunting trophies was missing from his office. I found it in this room next to the server room. Using my EDSU goggles I confirmed my suspicion: the deer head had been bugged. NSA tech. I wonder if the NSA was here attempting to cover up their involvement when Red Section struck? –Gabe Logan

Ep 2-1
Evidence #16
A homing beacon. I found a homing beacon buried at the edge of the landing field. Its battery was dead so it didn’t appear in EDSU, but it still had a heat signature. Red Section must have used it to direct them to their LZ. It had to have been planted before their op began, which means that either they had an advance operative out here weeks in advance, or they have a mole inside KemSynth who came out here in advance. I’m betting on the latter. –Lian Xing

Evidence #17
A radar jammer. Red Section was using a radar jammer to mask the true location of their transport plane. I’ve seen technology like this before, but only on first-world stealth craft, like the stealth bomber. First, how would Red Section obtain such technology like this, and second, how could they afford it? There’s more to these guys than we suspected. –Lian Xing

Evidence #18
A signal emitter. Hidden in one of the wings was a sophisticated signal emitter that spoofed a legitimate NORAD ID code. Military planes flying without registered flight plans that enter US Airspace must have this code or they risk being shot down. The codes are changed weekly so I have no idea how Red Section obtained them. –Lian Xing

Ep 2-2
Evidence #19
Weapon cartridge. I found a weapon cartridge that reads hot under EDSu. A depleted uranium round? The manufacturer’s ID is missing, but it has a location stamp that reads Helsinki, Finland. Either Red Section has an arms supplier in Finland, or a facility of their own. Either way, I’m going to have Teresa start digging. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #20
More KemSynth paperwork. This manual describes security protocols for Security Section D: who is authorized to enter, ID checks, retinal scans, the works. It doesn’t explain why an oil refinery needs this kind of security, or why a hydroponics lab would be set up inside it. But I guarantee one thing: this is the real reason Red Section is here. They are not a terrorist group going after the pipeline. They want whatever it is that’s inside KemSynth Security Section D. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #21
More grow lights. These are still warm, as if they had been dismantled recently. These look like metal halide lamps, designed for use where no natural light is available. This makes sense. The light they emit is blue oriented in the spectrum, which promotes growth, not budding. This far north, the sun is low to the horizon for over half the year, so anything they grow would require artificial light, and lots of it. –Gabe Logan

Ep 2-3
Evidence #22
A transmitter bug. Using my EDSU goggles, I discovered a transmitter wired into one of the main control panels. Once I get back to the command center I’ll have Mujari take it apart, but my suspicion is that this is how Red Section infiltrated the KemSynth facility. An advance agent might have been working in the refinery for months, planting bugs, monitoring procedures and protocols. Then when it was time to strike, Red Section was able to just waltz in. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #23
A tropical flower. I found another tropical flower, identical to the one that Kreisler was holding when he died. I’m not a botanist so I have no idea what species or variety it is, but one thing is for certain: KemSynth is going to a lot of trouble to grow it in secrecy. Hopefully, this specimen will allow Mujari to find out why. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #24
Evidence of technical expertise. The controls that operate the gas flow in the condensing unit have been sabotaged. Red Section used a welder to fuse the shut off valve. From the looks of it, a very professional job. They knew exactly what they needed to do, and had the expertise to accomplish it. Impressive work for mercenary para-military types. Someone did their homework. Or KemSynth had a mole –Gabe Logan

Ep 2-4
Evidence #25
A microfile. Using my EDSU goggles I discovered a microfile containing Red Section orders. The soldier codenamed Black King was the man in charge of the attack on the KemSynth refinery. His orders were very clear: infiltrate the refinery, locate the classified project files, then destroy the facility to make it look like a terrorist attack. The orders are signed by another code name: a man calling himself Singularity. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #26
Graffiti. Someone took a can of spray paint and scrawled this message on one of the pipeline building walls: ‘Dark Mirror will kill us all.’ What does it mean and who wrote it? Freeman? Kreisler? One of the KemSynth workers? Or one of Red Section’s goons? What is Dark Mirror?” –Gabe Logan

Evidence #27
Freeman’s personal papers. When Black King ransacked Freeman’s office, Freeman’s personal papers were scattered all over the refinery. We’ll go through them in more detail when we get back to the command center, but this caught my eye. It’s a shipping manifest from KemSynth Botanicals listing several new strains of plant, labeled ‘Project Dark Mirror.’ I think I know why Red Section is here, but how did they find out about a secret KemSynth research project? –Gabe Logan

Now for some toilet humor, courtesy of the first Side Mission Evidence

Side Mission Evidence posted:

Good Night, Sweetheart

Evidence #1
The toilet. Someone might think I picked this room because of the straight shot it gives me into Mara’s apartment. Nope, it’s the close proximity of the toilet. Won’t never tell Gabe this, but he’s right. I’m getting’ way too old for this shit when I start planning ops around the close proximity of the damn latrine. God I hate getting’ old. –Stone

Evidence #2
Mara in her skivvies. It don’t seem right to peek in on a woman with a scoped rifle from down the street when she’s changing into her unquestionables, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. ‘Course, I knew if I waited around here long enough, something like this would happen, but no way in hell I coulda predicted this. Hoo boy and howdy. –Stone

Evidence #3
Elsa in her skivvies. Great day in the morning. I feel like a god damned peepin’ tom down here, peering into their bed room with a scoped rifle. Well, it’s not like I meant to take these hi-res photos, just so happens it’s part of my job, surveillance and all. –Stone

Some interesting tidbits here and there, and we already have a name for one of Red Section's commanders: Singularity.