Freedomriders

From ManMachine

Several insurgent groups operated within the borders of the Green Zone. Of these, the Freedomriders gained the greatest public notoriety due to their penchant for symbolism and drama. They were overshadowed by larger, more powerful political forces. The purpose of the Freedomriders was to expose Cartel power over the world as a purely symbolic process. To do so, the Freedomriders would embark on hazardous attempts to free political prisoners and liberate the displaced from Unemployment Camp. This always required the careful balance of small units of force against the larger Cartel security contractors. Very few Freedomrider missions succeeded.

Unfortunately, the Freedomriders lacked a coherent political strategy. The Cartel media was quick to draw parallels between Freedomrider subterfuge with terrorism. Many in the resistance had a historically rooted antipathy to AI (after encountering the cold brutality of AI contractors during the Corporate Wars. This prevented the resistance from having otherwise natural allies in the independent AI tribes. However, not all humans in the Freedomrider movement feared AI. Indeed, the name stuck after early resistance efforts to allow AI to escape their corporate contracts and leave the Green Zone. Disputes over the relationship with AI and other matters led to the eventual self-destruction of the Freedomrider movement in the form of bloody internal strife.

In Book 2, the Freedomriders attempt to destroy a gel barrier node using rocketbikes and explosives. The mission falls apart after Atom Abasi is blackmailed by Nat Grimly into leaking the identity of a double-agent that is charged with taking down the shield wall.