The Rainmakers & Minos

[Joe Manning 0]

ODRI-CL42X93 -- Transmission 62025.68SavoyAGuardian

Captain Manning,

 

As you requested, here is the basic primer included within our dossier on the Rainmakers and Minos. I am not at liberty to disclose any further details of our investigations into their activities. You are probably aware of most of this information already; you will just have to accept that this is all my superiors will permit me to share with an independent mercenary.

 

I strongly urge you to make arrangements through Samus to gain contact with Minos. Our offer to overlook your indiscretions in The Maze will be reconsidered if Minos escapes Tranquility or if the Rainmakers conduct an attack within the city.

 

Marshall Amanda Savoy

Tranquility Precinct

 

 

The Rainmakers

 

Colonization of the Hyades cluster began in the middle of the 24th century with the establishment of a science installation on Theta Tauri II (now Tranquility). The founding of the Delta Tauri resort (now New Risa) followed early in the 2380's. Tritanium mining efforts were launched in earnest later in the 2380's, beginning with the foundation of the Goldrock colony in Upsilon Tauri. By the time the Federation Civil War began, these three colonies had amassed substantial populations.

 

When the Bull's Head Commonwealth formed in 2403, the inhabitants of the Hyades colonies became independent from the Federation, whether they chose to or not. Many of the colonists were staunch opponents of the break from the Federation, but they either refused to leave their homes or they could not secure passage back to the Federation core. These Bull's Head citizens, some of the cluster's oldest inhabitants, became the Commonwealth's first dissidents.

 

At first, the dissidents coexisted peacefully with the rest of the Bull's Head population. Their major role in the Commonwealth was of a more political nature, attempting to deter the growing self-reliance of the Hyades colonies. When the Federation Civil War concluded, they pressed influential groups like the Gular Consortium to embrace Federation support. Ultimately, these colonists desired a return to Federation jurisdiction. Their platform received little support from the Bull's Head population, which was growing exponentially with disaffected Federation emigrants.

 

Within a few years of the Civil War's end, elements of the anti-independence movement began to radicalize. Incidents of violence and sabotage were credited to supporters of the movement. Security leaks within the Guardian hierarchy and major Bull's Head corporations became more common, resulting in sensitive intelligence being delivered to contacts within the Federation. Inevitably, these radicals began to meet and organize within the shadows of Bull's Head, setting up a structure that could support operations throughout the Commonwealth. The terrorist organization that now champions the cause of restoring Bull's Head to Federation authority at any cost adopted a name -- the Rainmakers.

 

The Taurus Brothers have specially commissioned the Guardians to hunt down any known Rainmakers and, ultimately, to cripple the group's support structure. They have also posted a general bounty for the capture or death of any known Rainmaker or for information that could aide our efforts. The Gular Consortium has remained strangely silent on the issue of the Rainmakers and has rebuked our offers of joint efforts. They have only given assurances that they are funding their own private hunt of the Rainmakers and the group's leaders. This isolationist stance is somewhat puzzling -- the Consortium's initial role in driving the independence of Bull's Head and their continued support of independence make their assets prime targets for the Rainmakers. Most of the other corporations in Bull's Head more actively support our campaign against the Rainmakers.

 

 

Minos

 

Around the middle of the 2410's, a name began to emerge for the guiding hand of the Rainmaker organization. Captured Rainmakers began speaking openly of a leader figure known as 'Minos.' The emergence of this figure's name coincided with a shift within the organization toward cultism. Cell leaders began referring to themselves as 'disciples,' and followers began using the name 'adherents.' Guardian teams conducting stings on Rainmaker strongholds began reporting ritualistic activity taking place. Propaganda began spreading throughout the fringe colonies of Bull's Head, encouraging isolated citizens to turn against the Commonwealth and fight for the Federation. Minos seemed to be fueling all of this.

 

Very little is known about Minos, and knowledge of his whereabouts has been remarkably difficult to attain. Any Rainmakers who have been captured, even prominent disciples, allege that they have never seen Minos in person. Guardian Command has uncovered evidence that Minos relays orders to the Rainmaker disciples in the form of encrypted data packets hidden in the databanks of starships due to make scheduled stops at specific ports. In many cases, the crews of these starships are not even aware of their roles as couriers. Three years ago, a Guardian patrol ship en route to Andus was found to be carrying one of these packets in its computer core. When attempts were made to recover and decrypt the packet, a self-deletion protocol initiated. The crew was only able to determine that the packet was a Rainmaker correspondence authored by Minos himself before the data was erased from the core. Immediate searches performed on the computer systems of the Bull's Head fleet uncovered similar packets, all of which self-destructed in response to any attempt to crack them.

 

The discovery of the data packets served two useful purposes. It revealed that Minos or one of his closest supporters is a brilliant software engineer. Some of the most accomplished computer experts in the Hyades cluster have puzzled over the methods used to encrypt the Rainmaker orders and to conceal the packets' uplink into the targeted computer cores. The discovery has also prompted the Guardians to develop new computer security systems aimed specifically at intercepting these covert packets. Minos has undoubtedly either abandoned this method of distributing orders or has investigated methods of defeating the new security systems, but the discovery of the packet must have been a serious setback to the Rainmakers' operations.

 

The Taurus Brothers have been clear on their stance that Minos is the most dangerous individual in Bull's Head. Rainmakers answering to his authority have taken credit for over three dozen murders, bombings, and hijackings throughout Bull's Head. An appropriately sized bounty, contributed by several Bull's Head corporations, has been placed on his head.

 

Given his agenda and his capabilities, the possibility that Minos is a covert Starfleet operative has not been dismissed. No evidence has been discovered to back up this or any other possibility, however. Beyond his obvious ability to command the obedience of a terrorist organization and his grasp of software encryption and computer security, no information on Minos has been gathered. He remains one of the most elusive figures and perplexing mysteries of the Hyades cluster.