Pulse Echo
Overview
Section titled “Overview”Pulse Echo is a group of data brokers mainly that get their biggest business by offering services in scrubbing data or generating false ones for those looking to hide their old identity. They can snoop with the best of the surveillance modules across the Parthenon, and sell that information to civilians and corporations alike. A few bounty hunters find their work nearly invaluable with hunting down bounties. But they have of course their fingers in a lot of bad places to funnel this information. A part of that is in their shadow operations to target rival corporations to remove the threats they cause and snap up more opportunities. One doesn’t simply contact this group and needs to find ways to do so. Most don’t because of the flags this causes on surveillance, even if the search was out of innocent curiosity. To most security Pulse Echo has even been labeled as a terrorist organization.
There’s a general hierarchy to the organization, with more talented code hackers sitting at the top and monitoring their underlings. They may pick out one to tutor and build them up into loyal secondaries that can step in and take over when the big bosses need a break, ensuring not a beat is missed in the transfer of power. Some are slated to rise up into the Council seat of bosses, but many are there as scapegoats; replaceable if there’s a raid and left to be caught. Last on the rung are the Handlers, those that keep the codes and watch for program timers to go off and ensure everything is in working order. Under that? If you’re there, you’re not enjoying your time.
Membership
Section titled “Membership”Care to Join?
Contact Lee to join the team! They're open to new members!
The Council
Section titled “The Council”It started as one man, The Monarch, but as the organization grew, more heads were added, creating the Council. These hackers have some of the best tools in the galaxy to break into security files, surveillance systems, and the cybernetic augmentations of artificials. They rarely act for anything less, leaving it to their underlings to handle as their position has elevated them so much that they need to do very little to sustain their lavish lifestyle. So far the true names of these talking heads are unknown, but it’s hypothesized there are at least eight or nine of them. As the organization grows, this council surely will as well.
Prodigy
Section titled “Prodigy”These are the second in commands, hand selected, trained and groomed for a greater purpose by those in the council. Some in the Council have only one favored Prodigy, while some may have a dozen all vying with each other over the spot they hope to inherit. Often called “Ladders” by the ones under their thumb for climbing so high, Prodigy are the backbone currently as they handle most of the important tasks. Not much needs to be pushed higher up that ladder for the Council to deal with, as they have the permission to make more important decisions on their own as they act independently from their masters. A Prodigy can be seen as a highly important resource to be protected at all costs by their master within the Council, or may be viewed as expendable in times of a raid, and left as a pittance to be arrested and charged. It really depends on the boss that picked you.
Prodigies are given a handful of tools to use, and one is Rungs. These are their peers that weren’t selected, working on most data brokering orders, acting as a trader selling on the black market and dark web, and keeping communications running up the ladder. They find work to bring in as well, kind of like car salesmen. If the job is too big, they pass it up to the Prodigy. Their talent and worth is measured by the jobs they bring in, with a high risk/high reward mindset driving the push. Tough jobs that should be passed up can be worked on solo by a Rung, and should they succeed they are well rewarded with some being hand picked to rise up as a Prodigy. Failure means getting shunted to the lower level where they likely began.
Handler
Section titled “Handler”The lowest level often mocked as a Grunt or Grunty. Almost everyone starts here. They watch diagnostics on their projects, ensure programs run optimally and push out updates as needed to their software. Any low grade or repetitive projects are pushed their way as they do what their name implies; grunt-work. They also act as mules to pass out the information worked on to customers, or promote the organization in the shadows through subtle advertising and propaganda. Their more hands-on approach to the living world around the Parthenon means they have a high risk of being discovered and arrested, and they cannot make any decisions on their own without an overseer in the form of a Rung or Prodigy standing over their shoulder. And of course they handle the daily needs of those in the organization; making orders for food and equipment, keeping stock and of course, handling the dark operatives on the side.
Dark Operatives
Section titled “Dark Operatives”These may mean any of the constant ongoing projects or forces in the background used by Pulse Echo to keep their foothold in the world where everything is watched and heard by Big Brother. They sell weapons and armor. Security personnel and services. The branch is lucrative enough to offer loans albeit at a horrible interest rate to desperate folk. There’s the illicit market on their Dark Web servers. Data mining. And of course their collection teams, because sometimes people don’t want to pay, or can’t.
Vulture Team
Section titled “Vulture Team”Recovery unit. A small branch of their special security units that specialize in extraction including of high important targets like the Council members. They can be sent out to clean up bodies and an area, depending on the time that they have, and act as Pulse Echo’s official kidnappers. Workers in Vulture Team are less tech savvy, and know more about combat and stealth. They can be hired out to protect company bosses and even political leaders if they have a target on their heads, acting as a means to quickly get them out of a bad situation if things go lethal.
Sec Team
Section titled “Sec Team”Security as a whole. A group of fighters and trained guardsmen. Some are augmented. Some are pure AI. While they can be rented out to civilians or other corporations, Pulse Echo likes to keep them close as a makeshift military power to protect their offices and buildings.
Designated Operatives of General Services. A fancy way to call these people slaves. DOGS are people that took the job to shakedown or be debt collectors out of desperation rather than any urge to do so of free will. A good handful are in this position due to extensive debts they are trying to pay off with their labor. Unfortunately this means being fitted with a Neuro Helm that hijacks their body and suppresses their consciousness into a blank state of non-existence. Those under the effects feel as if they have been sleeping, or sitting within a sensory deprivation chamber. They’re kept alive via programs that ensure they eat three times a day and sleep six hours at a time. Many suffer horrible health issues from the cocktails of drugs fed into them to keep them alive, or augment them for their needs. Currently there are seven known DOGS on file from being seen, with none being recovered alive. An eighth one had been taken down, but had clearly been stripped of gear by Vulture Team before recovery was finished. The body showed signs of trauma from overwork, had suffered cardiac arrest, and ultimately succumbed due to a sudden seizure and brainbleed. Likely from the removal of the Neuro Helm so suddenly. It’s believed the individual was left to die after the cardiac arrest. The remaining seven have been called Sins by security.
Members
Section titled “Members”A missing person, a mystery, and a brilliant yet amnesiac scientist all in one. Riley doesn't know who she is or where she came from. Her mmory is broken and right now, she's just wandering, stumbling through life and the system trying to piece things together.
Property
Section titled “Property”In the corporate realm, people are property too. And these people? They’re treated like dogs.
Another enforcer DOG, 0M364 is their longest lived and has an uncanny ability to be very resilient in the field. Not too strong, 0M364 excels in both chase and combat with mixed results. Their IR sensors make it difficult to outpace as it follows heat trails, and impossible to hide from within the same area without anything to block their Handler’s view. But 0M364 is slowing down. Albeit only middle aged, the constant stream of medications and drugs to function is slowly eroding their health. They are growing slower and weaker by the day, no longer able to run for miles as they once had, no matter how much adrenaline or electric shocks are coursed into their body. When not in action 0M364 has been heard wheezing as they breathe, noting possible signs of respiratory distress. Security has hypothesized this is a precursor to an eventual collapse that lead to the discovery and recovery of the 8th DOG and it’s only a matter of time.
A nocturnal DOG sent out for scouting and overwatch properties. 5H4D0W is hardly a combat unit, instead making use of their small body for stealth and surveillance. They are often sent out with Vulture Team or another DOG to watch and monitor from afar, as well as relay information should communications between Vulture Team or the DOGS get cut. Their gear is indicative of a more hands-off role with magnetic tech on their feet and gloves alongside anchors to help them climb many surfaces like a spider. Their Helm is also much more bulky to handle all the extra processing it would need to keep such a wide surveillance for their Handlers. 5H4D0W has been identified as a small male.
A third enforcer DOG similar to WR47H in that the only tools on hand outside their augmentations are the same metal gauntlets. Alternatively D4N73 is less muscled and shorter, allowing them to fit into more places and match speeds with faster targets without much issue. However, due to the person they have augmented, D4N73 has had several handling issues as his seizures sometimes causes the Neuro Helm to reset, resulting in an awakening of his consciousness, or an overdose of medications that requires immediate correction. In one case a blow to the head had caused D4N73 to go rogue for several minutes in a drug-addled awakened state before the Helm corrected itself to their brainwaves and pushed them into a VR and ultimately suppressed their consciousness once more. For now D4N73 is kept as a backup unit. They have been identified as a young male.
A DOG augmented human with plenty of ports and a multitude of attachments. Used as a walking computer virus, M4N14 can be sent into places and single out an exact point of entry to wire in and let their masters break into a security point. This means the point of attack is at the same building, leaving no lead to the main bases that Pulse Echo has. This makes them able to walk up to AI units as well to hijack momentarily with a transfer of code. This is their main DOG, and is used in many cyber attacks against the Parthenon security. It’s been identified as a woman.
A DOG that is focused on long range. Able to handle skirmishes in close quarters as a last resort, P4R4D0X works best as an assassin. For every time Vulture Team has been sent out to protect targets, P4R4D0X has been sent out just as much. Used to promote more security being hired from Pulse Echo, and to eliminate important targets, P4R4D0X is a walking propaganda machine sometimes lent out to assassinate the very people Pulse’s Vulture Team is guarding. Talk about having your cake and eating it too. The augments for P4R4D0X makes them highly accurate to within AI standards, able to hide in the smallest places, scale tough terrain and buildings, as well as defend themself should they be discovered. P4R4D0X has been identified as a young woman.
A DOG tasked for enforcer work similar to WYV3RN. Augmented for a more physical niche, WR47H can be shipped out with security units as a means of being a literal attack dog. One of the heavier units on call for DOGS, WR47H is capable of also being a task worker for physical labor such as moving heavy machinery. When there’s a combat capable target the Council is focused on eliminating, WR47H is typically the first one sent as a means of “shock and awe”, overwhelming most with brute strength and unnerving savagery befitting their name. They are notably equipped with what they consider the standard for DOGS via modified Loader Mits that mirror their hands within the gauntlets and give each digit a wicked claw on their fingertips. WR47H has been identified as a large robust male.
A DOG equipped with flamethrower augments on their metal gauntlets. WYV3RN is typically sent out on jobs needing scorched earth policy, literally. They are used mostly in scrubbing data via arson, burning whole data centers down to the core into ash and burning bodies til there’s nothing left to identify them. A secondary job is crowd control, and of course for those that don’t mind war crimes; cremating enemies alive. Rarely seen or used, WYV3RN is identified as a lithe young male.