A Stern Warning

"A Stern Warning", is a training level in The Operative: No One Lives Forever. It immediately follows the mission Rescue Attempt and prepares the player for the upcoming mission Trouble in the Tropics.

Briefing
Although the rescue of Doctor Schenker was absolutely imperative if UNITY were to have even the merest hope of victory, it comes at a grievous cost.

There is much still to accomplish, but very little time in which to do so.

Summary

 * 9:02am, September 24.
 * Residence of Lester Cheems, Shilling, England

As retaliation for Cate Archer's rescue of Dr. Schenker, H.A.R.M. infects a banker, Lester Cheems, in the town of Shilling, whose detonation results in about 1,300 people being killed.

In the Briefing Room, Archer, Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones receive another threat from the "Puppet" that, unless they give Schenker back, H.A.R.M. would mete out similar punishments every 48 hours. Archer points out that Shilling was the birthplace of Baroness Dumas, (formerly Felicity Farnsworth) restating suspicions of her potential involvement, but Mr. Smith is not convinced.

Mr. Jones calls in Dr. Schenker whom he asks for information regarding the names of the infected victims and the antidote. Although he is of no help in the former case, he does explain that, due to its instability, the antidote can only be produced in outer space. It is revealed that H.A.R.M. has instituted its very own space program, supposedly for this purpose, from a tropical island off the coast of Mandaru. Archer is subsequently given the mission of traveling to the island to retrieve a sample of the antidote.

Memorable quotes
Archer: "You call it coincidence. I call it circumstantial evidence."

Trivia

 * Like Bumberton, Shilling is a fictional town.
 * Even though Santa provides the player with the mine detector conceding that the island would be mined, there are no mines to be found in the upcoming mission. However, mines are featured in Misfortune in Morocco and Alpine Intrigue.
 * This tutorial was likely forced to be here because at this point of the game, there's no more new gadgets aside from the Snow Mobile that'd be featured in the last tutorial mission.