History Literature / TheOregonFiles

** [[spoiler: ''Colossus'' in ''Shadow Tyrants.'']] Unlike the [[spoiler:Quantum Computer,]] it ''doesn't'' want to be destroyed, and in fact the first thing it feels when it comes online is a desire for self-preservation, and promptly begins developing at an ''astronomical'' pace, able to hack into a ship's computer to hijack its laser scanning array within ''seconds'' of being activated. Even the BigBad who brought it online is blown away by the speed of its development, but pretty much everyone but him is very clearly unnerved by the whole concept and knows just what sort of ticking time bomb it can become. It's pretty much implied by the book that if [[spoiler: ''Colossus'']] was allowed to go on, it would have indeed turned against humanity.

* BadassBoast: Cabrillo gives one to Kensit, by addressing him while Kensit is watching him via the Sentinel. Bonus points for the fact that Sentinel is ''supposed'' to be undetectable, yet Cabrillo managed to look ''[[PokeInTheThirdEye right at Kensit]]'' through Sentinel.
--> '''Cabrillo''': I don't know if you're watching or listening to me. I may be talking to myself, but if you're out there, you should know something. I'll only say this once, and then you'll never hear me talk to you again. You may think you're a genius, Kensit, but you're not infallible. [[PapaWolf You made a huge mistake when you went after my crew.]] [[AFatherToHisMen They're my family.]] Maybe a loner like you doesn't understand the importance of family, but your attacks made the situation between you and me [[ItsPersonal personal.]] I don't care what advantages you have, I promise that I will find you. And when I do, you'll discover that my retribution is swift and mighty.....Spend this night well Kensit. It just might be your last.

** In fact, this can apply to many of the Corporation's employees. They're all very likeable characters...and they are all equally capable of beating your ass into a pulp if you piss them off.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: a rare good example. Linda Ross is a petite blonde girl and one of the nicest people on the ship....she's also, as demonstrated in ''Skeleton Coast'', the Oregon's lead interrogator who can get even deranged ecoterrorists to sing like a canary. However, she admits to Cabrillo that despite her expertise, she greatly dislikes her profession, but goes through with it anyway for the sake of the Corporation.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Cabrillo, all the way. With his "we help everybody" attitude he'd be terrible at mercenaring if not for the fact that he always sometimes manages to make profit in the end.
** It comes to bite him in the ass between ''The Silent Sea'' and ''The Jungle'', though.

** And then the Oregon herself is ''almost'' on the receiving end of this in ''The Emperor's Revenge'' when they first encounter the ''Achilles,'' a superyacht that, like the ''Oregon'' is packed to the brim with advanced systems and weaponry, some more advanced than even the ''Oregon'' herself, making it in every sense of the word an evil counterpart to the heroes' ship. Upon their first meeting, the ''Achilles'' uses her anti-missile laser and rail gun to nearly send the ''Oregon'' to the bottom while barely taking a scratch, only to be thwarted by some quick computer work. The second meeting, thankfully, is more in the ''Oregon's'' favor once Cabrillo uses some tricks up his sleeve to even the odds, and results in the ''Achilles'' suffering the fate that ''Oregon's'' other opponents commonly face.

* EcoTerrorist: In ''Skeleton Coast'', the crew of the ''Oregon'' uncovers a plot to create a deliberate toxic spill in order to enlighten people about the damage such things can cause.

** Again in ''Shadow Tyrants'': One side wants to create a massive A.I. with which to dominate the world with, while the other wants to make a network of computer-scrambling satellites that will plunge the world back into a pre-computer age.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: A common occurrence in the novel is the BigBad's plan being thwarted by their own resources; two examples that come to mind are in ''Piranha'' where the ''Oregon'' hijacks one of Kensit's stolen drones and plows it into his yacht, and in ''The Jungle'' where the quantum computer AI built by Bahar to terrorize the West decides that it would rather not be an instrument of destruction and turns on its creator to assist Cabrillo in thwarting Bahar's plans.

* MadeOfExplodium: The Chinese superweapon in ''Mirage.'' Justified in that the weapon is mentioned to be derived from one of Nikolai Tesla's inventions, and as such strain the laws of reality almost to the breaking point. All it took was a single relatively small hit from the ''Oregon'' to cause it all to come apart and literally vaporize the entire vessel.
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Lawless]] in ''The Jungle'', although reluctantly - the moment he can pull off HeelFaceTurn, he does it.

* PokeInTheThirdEye: Cabrillo pulls this off on Kensit through Sentinel in ''Piranha,'' giving Kensit a ''massive'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech / BadassBoast and promising Kensit his reckoning is soon. Kensit, usually a SmugSnake, is so unnerved that it begins to set off his VillainousBreakdown.

* RammingAlwaysWorks: Of particular note in ''The Emperor's Revenge'' where the ''Oregon'' [[BigDamnHeroes saves Cabrillo]] from being run down by the BigBad's submarine.
** And again in ''Mirage'' but not exactly with a ship, per se: The ''Oregon'' is attempting to intercept a superweapon headed straight for a U.S. fleet, but the weapon is protected by an energy shield that doubles as an invisibility cloak causing any ship that comes near it to be magnetized and capsized, and any projectile fired at it to be deflected away. Cabrillo's solution is to simply ''ram'' the shield head on, powering through it and into firing range.
** Done again in ''Piranha:'' The BigBad of the novel, Kensit, plans on hijacking several advanced military drones and using them as impromptu guided missiles against Air Force One; The ''Oregon'' [[HoistByHisOwnPetard turns Kensit's own plan against him]] by taking control of several of the drones ''themselves'' and using one of them to not only knock the drone targeting Air Force One out of the sky, but then to take the last remaining drone and crash it into Kensit's yacht.

* RealityEnsues: After Cabrillo refuses to let go of the case when the US government (their biggest contractor) tells him so in ''The Silent Sea'', in ''The Jungle'' Corporation must be less choosy about its jobs, as US doesn't want to deal with them anymore.

* SinisterSurveillance: Project Sentinel is revealed to be this, essentially a "neutrino telescope" (As Mark Murphy described it) which allowed someone to analyze the changes in neutrinos as they pass through earth to spy on literally anyone anywhere at any time, without even having to use a camera, bugs, or even a network connection to the place. The only downside, and the one quality Cabrillo exploits, is that the prototype Sentinel can only watch one target at once.

* TheDreaded: Apparently the ''Oregon'' has achieved this status among baddies by the tenth book, though her name and exact appearance still isn't completely known. Unfortunately, Cabrillo sees publicity as detrimental to the ''Oregon's'' spy-ship qualities, so he arranges a fake death for the ship in the form of a classic bait-and-switch.

** In ''Plague Ship,'' the main villain truly believes that he will be hailed as a savior for sterilizing half the human race and "saving" humanity from the "inevitable" collapse of overpopulation.

** Romir Mallik in ''Shadow Tyrants'' believes that the rapidly advancing computers of the world will bring ruin to humanity as automation begins slowly replacing human judgement more and more, so he works on designing a system of satellites that will permanently render all computers useless plunging the world back into a pre-digital area, regardless of how many ''billions'' of deaths it will cause.

* HandicappedBadass: Cabrillo. He got his leg blown off by a Chinese gunboat during his days in the CIA. Thanks to advanced prosthesis though, he still manages to keep up with the rest of his crew.

* PokeInTheThirdEye: Cabrillo pulls this off on Kensit through Sentinel in ''Piranha,'' giving Kensit a ''massive'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech / BadassBoast and promising Kensit his reckoning is soon. Kensit, usually a SmugSnake, is so unnerved that it begins to set off his VillanousBreakdown.

* BadassBoast: Cabrillo gives one to Kensit, by addressing him while Kensit is watching him via the Sentinel. Bonus points for the fact that Sentinel is ''supposed'' to be undetectable, yet Cabrillo managed to look ''[[PokeTheThirdEye right at Kensit]]'' through Sentinel.

* PokeTheThirdEye: Cabrillo pulls this off on Kensit through Sentinel in ''Piranha,'' giving Kensit a ''massive'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech / BadassBoast and promising Kensit his reckoning is soon. Kensit, usually a SmugSnake, is so unnerved that it begins to set off his VillanousBreakdown.

* BadassBoast: Cabrillo gives one to Kensit, by addressing him while Kensit is watching him via the Sentinel. Bonus points for the fact that Sentinel is ''supposed'' to be undetectable, yet Cabrillo managed to look ''right at Kensit'' through Sentinel.

** [[Spoiler: ''Colossus'' in ''Shadow Tyrants.'']] Unlike the [[spoiler:Quantum Computer,]] it ''doesn't'' want to be destroyed, and in fact the first thing it feels when it comes online is a desire for self-preservation, and promptly begins developing at an ''astronomical'' pace, able to hack into a ship's computer to hijack its laser scanning array within ''seconds'' of being activated. Even the BigBad who brought it online is blown away by the speed of its development, but pretty much everyone but him is very clearly unnerved by the whole concept and knows just what sort of ticking time bomb it can become. It's pretty much implied by the book that if [[spoiler: ''Colossus'']] was allowed to go on, it would have indeed turned against humanity.

* '''''Shadow Tyrants''''' (2018): They say blood is thicker than water, but sometimes that isn't a good thing. Blood flows freely between the factions of two rival moguls, both descendants of a mysterious organization known as the Nine Unknown Men, who were tasked by an ancient emperor with keeping powerful and dangerous secrets. Now, the moguls are involved in a deadly feud with one another, and the crew of the ''Oregon'' finds themselves caught in the middle. Will they be able to broker a resolution and stop the two sides from escalating their conflict farther? Or will Cabrillo and his crew become the unfortunate first victims of a new dynasty of terror that will engulf the world?

* '''''Mirage''''' (2013): With his dying breath, an old acquaintance of Cabrillo mentions something about UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla and his connection to stories of how a Navy ship disappeared during an experiment using electromagnetic radiation. And when a superweapon (believed by Cabrillo to be connected to Tesla) is put up for auction, the crew of the Oregon rush to find out the truth and make sure it never goes to the wrong hands.

* '''''Shadow Tyrants''''' (2018): They say blood is thicker than water, but in some cases that isn't a good thing. In this case, the blood flows freely between the factions of two rival moguls, both descendants of a mysterious organization known as the Nine Unknown Men who were tasked with keeping powerful and dangerous secrets. Now, the moguls are involved in a deadly feud with one another, and the ''Oregon'' finds themselves caught in the middle. Will they be able to broker a resolution and stop the two sides from escalating their conflict farther? Or will Cabrillo and his crew become the unfortunate first victims of a new dynasty of terror that will engulf the world?

* '''''Shadow Tyrants''''' (2018): They say blood is deeper than water, but in some cases that isn't a good thing. In this case, the blood flows freely between the factions of two rival moguls, both descendants of a mysterious organization known as the Nine Unknown Men who were tasked with keeping powerful and dangerous secrets. Now, the moguls are involved in a deadly feud with one another, and the ''Oregon'' finds themselves caught in the middle. Will they be able to broker a resolution and stop the two sides from escalating their conflict farther? Or will Cabrillo and his crew become the unfortunate first victims of a new dynasty of terror that will engulf the world?

* '''''Shadow Tyrants''''' (2018): They say blood is deeper than water, but in some cases that isn't a good thing. In this case, the blood flows freely between the factions of two rival moguls, both descendants of a mysterious organization known as the Nine Unknown Men who were tasked with keeping powerful and dangerous secrets. Now, the moguls are involved in a deadly feud with one another, and the ''Oregon'' finds themselves caught in the middle. Will they be able to stop the two factions from waging all-out war against each other, or will they be the unfortunate heralds of a new dynasty of terror that will engulf the world?

* '''''Typhoon Fury''''' (2017): Taking down warlords and their organizations is no new territory for the crew of the ''Oregon,'' but in the case of their newest enemy, Filipino Communist rebel Salvador Locsin, the waters are deeper and more treacherous than they seem. As if the murderous tyrant were not dangerous enough with his funds acquired from stolen paintings and an experimental WWII-era serum that turns ordinary men into superhuman killing machines, now Locsin is developing a new type of high-speed stealth torpedo, one that could allow him to decimate the Filipino Navy and conquer the country in a wave of blood and terror. But even as the ''Oregon'' races to stop him, they find themselves contending with a ruthless South African mercenary with his own designs for Locsin's super soldier formula...

* '''''Dark Watch''''' (2005): Cabrillo takes a break from catering to Western interests when a Japanese shipping consortium, led by an old university colleague, has requested his help regarding inexplicable pirate attacks on freighters in Southeast Asia, freighters that mysteriously vanish, never to be found again. What Cabrillo discovers, however, is a ruthless group of Chinese human traffickers and a bloody conspiracy of death and slavery that stretches from sea battles in the middle of the Pacific to barely escaping death in an Indonesian shipbreaker's yard -- But the ''Oregon'' can only allow such an operation to persist for so long before they blow it out the water.

* '''''Dark Watch''''' (2005): Cabrillo takes a break from catering to Western interests when a Japanese shipping consortium, led by an old university colleague, has requested his help regarding inexplicable pirate attacks on freighters in Southeast Asia. What Cabrillo discovers, however, is an even greater conspiracy of death and slavery -- one he can only allow for so long before he and his crew blow it out the water.

* '''''Skeleton Coast''''' (2006): Hardly had the ''Oregon'' finished a mission on Congo River when its crew receive an SOS from scientist Sloane [=MacIntyre=], who has been searching for the ''HMS Rove'', a British ship lost in 1896 supposedly carrying stolen Herero diamonds. When she recalls a story heard from a mad fisherman about being attacked by giant metal snakes in the high seas, Cabrillo is tempted to search for the snakes. What he discovers, however, only deepens the mystery as he and Sloan uncover a conspiracy that will take them from scorching Saharan sands to abandoned prison camps as they face off against ruthless African rebels and deranged ecoterrorists with designs to [[GaiasVengeance unleash the power of nature against humanity]].

* '''''Plague Ship''''' (2008): The crew of the ''Oregon'' discover a cruise ship off the coast of Iran, its passengers dead of hemorrhagic fever. Even as they try to find out what happened from the ship's sole survivor, Cabrillo's closest friend comes to him with a request to rescue his estranged son from Responsivists, a cult advocating PopulationControl. No one could predict, however, that the two incidents would have more in common than anyone could think as the ''Oregon'' gets sucked into a plot to unleash an epidemic of apocalyptic proportions...

* '''''Corsair''''' (2009): When a plane carrying the American state secretary en route to a summit in Libya vanishes, Washington sends Cabrillo to find it. This, however, brings him to a clash with Libya's new foreign minister with his designs for the conference. From there on Cabrillo would have to find connections between this new Libyan higher-up, a war during the 1800s which defeated the Barbary pirates of the south Mediterranean, and centuries-old scrolls the Libyans are so desperate to seek.

* '''''The Emperor's Revenge''''' (2016): While on the trail of a hacker who has frozen the Corporation's "offshore" bank accounts, Juan meets an old friend from his CIA days who may just help him uncover the truth about his latest nemesis. But what they unravel stretches far beyond the Corporation's missing funds: What does a multimillionaire with a high-tech superyacht, a Napoleonic artifact that contains the secrets to an astounding treasure, and a disgraced Ukrainian captain bent on vengeance have to do with each other? Cabrillo must find out quick, for the clock is ticking as he races to prevent an unthinkable act of cyber-terrorism the likes of which the world has never seen. If he fails, the entire European continent will be brought to its knees.

* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler: The Quantum Computer]] inverts this. [[spoiler: Gunawan Bahar]] created it to hack into Western computer systems and perform terrorist acts, [[spoiler: but it eventually becomes smart enough to develop moral objections to its creator.]] Of course, the GenreSavvy [[spoiler:Bahar]] programmed it with a safeguard that forces it to obey all of his orders without question, but not those of anyone else. Unfortunately for him, this doesn't prevent it from [[spoiler: telling Juan [[ICannotSelfTerminate how to destroy it.]]]]

* '''''Skeleton Coast''''' (2006): Hardly had the ''Oregon'' finished a mission on Congo River when its crew receive an SOS from scientist Sloane [=MacIntyre=], who has been searching for the ''HMS Rove'', a British ship lost in 1896 supposedly carrying stolen Herero diamonds. When she recalls a story heard from a mad fisherman about being attacked by giant metal snakes in the high seas, Cabrillo is tempted to search for the snakes, all the while clashing with a militant group desirous to [[GaiasVengeance unleash the power of nature against humanity]].

* '''''Plague Ship''''' (2008): The crew of the ''Oregon'' discover a cruise ship off the coast of Iran, its passengers dead of hemorrhagic fever. Barely escaping its inexplicable explosion with its sole survivor, Cabrillo would have to cooperate with the survivor, decipher the mysterious deaths, and clash with the Responsivists, a cult advocating PopulationControl.

* '''''The Silent Sea''''' (2010): On the day of the Pearl Harbor attacks, five brothers stumble upon a treasure trove in an island off the coast of Washington state. In the present, the ''Oregon's'' satellite search mission in Argentina started off a chain of mysteries leading to that same island and its connection to an ancient Chinese expedition and a 500-year-old curse.

* '''''The Jungle''''' (2011): Cabrillo rescues an Indonesian boy in Afghanistan, only to be dragged into massive jungles, literal and allegorical, involving a woman missing in the Burmese highlands, a conspiracy led by a madman who wants to undermine the American government, and laser weapons from ''thirteenth-century China'' reputedly used by UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan.

* '''''Typhoon Fury''''' (2017): Taking down warlords and their organizations is no new territory for the crew of the ''Oregon,'' but in the case of their newest enemy, Filipino Communist rebel Salvador Locsin, the waters are deeper and more treacherous than they seem. As if the murderous tyrant were not dangerous enough with his funds acquired from stolen paintings and an experimental WWII-era serum that turns ordinary men into superhuman killing machines, now Locsin is developing a new type of high-speed stealth torpedo, one that could allow him to decimate the Filipino Navy and conquer the country in a wave of blood and terror. But even as the ''Oregon'' races to stop him, they find themselves contending with a ruthless South African mercenary with his own designs for the serum...

* '''''Typhoon Fury''''' (2017): Taking down warlords and their organizations is no new territory for the crew of the ''Oregon,'' but in the case of their newest enemy, Filipino Communist rebel Salvador Locsin, the waters are deeper and more treacherous than they seem. As if the murderous tyrant were not dangerous enough with his funds acquired from stolen paintings and an experimental WWII-era serum that turns ordinary men into superhuman killing machines, now the tyrant is developing a new type of high-speed stealth torpedo, one that could allow him to decimate the Filipino Navy and conquer the country in a wave of blood and terror. But even as the ''Oregon'' races to stop him, they find themselves contending with a ruthless South African mercenary with his own designs for the serum...

* '''''The Emperor's Revenge''''' (2016): While on the trail of a hacker who has frozen the Corporation's "offshore" bank accounts, Juan meets an old friend from his CIA days who may just help him uncover the truth about his latest nemesis. But what they unravel stretches far beyond the Corporation's missing funds: What does a multimillionaire with a high-tech superyacht, a Napoleonic artifact that contains the secrets to an astounding treasure, and a disgraced Ukrainian captain bent on vengeance have to do with each other? Cabrillo must find out quick, for the clock is ticking as he races to prevent an unthinkable act of cyber-terrorism the likes of which the world has never seen. If he fails, the entire European continent will be brought to its knees...

* '''''Typhoon Fury''''' (2017): Taking down warlords and their organizations is no new territory for the crew of the ''Oregon,'' but in the case of their newest enemy, Filipino Communist rebel Salvador Locsin, the waters are deeper and more treacherous than they seem. As if the murderous tyrant were not dangerous enough with his funds acquired from stolen paintings and advanced high-speed torpedoes, now Locsin has gotten his hands on an experimental WWII-era serum that turns ordinary men into superhuman killing machines, and with it he plans on conquering the Philippine Islands in a storm of blood and terror. But even as the ''Oregon'' races to stop him, they find themselves contending with a ruthless South African mercenary with his own designs for the serum...

* '''''Typhoon Fury''''' (2017): Taking down warlords and their organizations is no new territory for the crew of the ''Oregon,'' but in the case of their newest enemy, Filipino Communist rebel Salvador Locsin, the waters are deeper and more treacherous than they seem. As if the murderous tyrant were not dangerous enough with his funds acquired from stolen paintings and advanced high-speed torpedoes, now Locsin has gotten his hands on an experimental WWII-era serum that turns ordinary men into superhuman killing machines, and with it he plans on conquering the Philippine Islands in a storm of blood and terror. But even as the ''Oregon'' races to stop him, they find themselves contending with a ruthless South African mercenary with his own designs for the serum. With enemies around every corner and a megastorm bearing down on the Philippine Islands, Cabrillo and his crew face their toughest challenges yet in a desperate struggle to keep a larger, more allegorical storm from consuming all of Southeast Asia.

* '''''Typhoon Fury''''' (2017): Taking down warlords and their organizations is no new territory for the crew of the ''Oregon,'' but in the case of their newest enemy, a Filipino insurgency leader using stolen paintings to finance his troops, the waters are much deeper and more treacherous than they seem. A World War II-era serum, designed by the Japanese to create super soldiers, finds itself in the hands of this Filipino warlord, but even as the ''Oregon'' races to stop his plans, they find themselves contending with a South African mercenary with his own agenda for the serum. With a megastorm bearing down on them, Cabrillo and the ''Oregon'' must prevent a bigger, more allegorical storm from sparking, one that could consume the entire Asian continent.

* '''''Typhoon Fury''''' (2017): Taking down warlords and their organizations is no new territory for the crew of the ''Oregon,'' but in the case of their newest enemy, a Filipino insurgency leader using stolen paintings to finance his troops, the waters are much deeper and more treacherous than they seem. A World War II-era serum, designed by the Japanese to create super soldiers, finds itself in the hands of this Filipino warlord, but even as the ''Oregon'' races to prevent him from using it, they find themselves contending with a South African mercenary with his own plans for the serum. With a megastorm bearing down on them, Cabrillo and the ''Oregon'' must prevent a bigger, more allegorical storm from sparking, one that could consume the entire Asian continent.