Bryan West

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Bryan West is my name. Well, at least that's what I'll be calling myself for the foreseeable future. My real name is not important, never has been.
Undercover work is undoubtedly the most dangerous kind of police work. Above all else you need committment to your cover ID. It's not enough to simply pretend your someone else, you need to be that somebody. If you don't truely believe you are who you say you are, why should anybody else?

You need to be resourceful, observant and a very good liar. And you need to be consistant with your lies. What helps is to season your lies with just the right ammount of truth to make it palletable, yet not too much that you start compromising yourself. It also doesent hurt to know how to field strip half a dozen of the most common hand guns, blasters and laser rifles, hold military grade proficiency in hand to hand combat, and have a decent knowledge of household chemistry.

If working in the LPI's Narcotics beauro for 6 years has taught me one thing, it's that smugglers are the most slippery, decietful, cunning mongrels on the face of the planet. It's a bitter feeling to see thousands of police hours wasted raiding empty warehouses, docking platforms cargo pods and freighters. It was only a matter of time before the big man demanded I become a smuggler. If the LPI ever wanted to throw a hydrospanner into the works of the colossal machination that was the cadamine smuggling scene here on manhattan, then I coulddn't think of a better place to start.

[Charcoal]

The first step in creating a believable cover ID is to sprinkle just the right ammount of dirt on your rap sheet to make things... Lets say, interesting. If you present too squeaky clean and it makes crime lords get suspicious when hiring their thugs. To dirty and most high ranking scum will consider you to be more trouble then its worth. Then there's the crime itself. The crimes committed make a statement about who you are. Being charged for petty theft only tells people you like to steal stuff, not somebody I'd trust a shipment to. Four years for armed robbery and assault let's everybody know your arrogant, ambitious and ain't affraid to reach out and take what you want.

But like I said, your cover can't be all about dirt. I like to keep the vast majority strictly legit. Take my new Camara for example. Full legal purchase reciept, registration and even has an insurance account with Interspace. That kind of paperwork comes in handy when the donut patrol comes around for an ID check.

The next step is aquiring the right kind of supply contracts and a private trading licence. Getting the license is the easy part. The hard part is finding that "someone" who wants some "stuff" moved "somewhere". And like all good business contracts, the best place for a meet and greet is the bar. The sleazier the better.