Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video Game) - Plot

Plot

The game is set in the fall of 2004, as the player takes on the role of Sam Fisher, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL called back to duty by the NSA to work within one of its sub-agencies "Third Echelon". The unnamed president of Georgia is assassinated during a suicide bomb attack in Georgia's capital Tbilisi, allowing Georgian multi-billionaire Kombayn Nikoladze to seize power in the country in a coup d’état. While in power, Nikoladze promotes technological advances in information industries with the support of some countries in Europe as well as the United States.

Meanwhile, Sam Fisher is dispatched to Tbilisi for his first assignment as a Splinter Cell. His mission is to investigate the mysterious disappearance of two CIA operatives: Alison Madison, who secured a role in Nikoladze's political cabinet, and Robert Blaustein, who went to find Madison. Fisher meets with NSA informant Thomas Gurgenidze, who he finds in a warehouse engulfed in flames. Before dying, Gurgenidze states that according to Madison's last transmission, the duo had discovered "something big," and she had said that gaining proof could lead to war. Finding the bodies of Madison and Blaustein in the local morgue, Fisher then learns that both agents have been dead for more than a day and that Vyacheslav Grinko - a ex-Spetznaz soldier turned mercenary - removed their subdermal tracking implants and. Using his license plate number, Third Echelon tracks him to the Georgian Ministry of Defense.

Fisher arrives at the Ministry to find that Grinko is here to meet an American computer genius named Phillip Masse. Listening in with a laser mic, Fisher learns that Nikoladze is conducting a top-secret operation in Azerbaijan. For more information, Fisher infiltrates Nikoladze's personal office and has Anna Grimsdottir, Third Echelon's technical expert, hack into the computer via satellite, only to have the Ministry's security detect the hack and cut Grimsdottir’s access, sending the building into alert. She manages, however, to retrieve the rest of the data, revealing to the NSA that Nikoladze has secretly been waging an ethnic cleansing campaign in Azerbaijan. Fisher is extracted via a van provided by Wilkes.

With the information gathered from the Ministry, NATO troops enter Azerbaijan, prompting Nikoladze to go underground. The NSA notices that a Georgian military cell that has been stationed on an oil rig in the Caspian Sea has been exchanging data with the Georgian Presidential Palace, suggesting it to be of some importance; and thus Fisher is sent to retrieve the data.

Fisher infiltrates the oil rig, only to find that NATO is sending in planes to bomb the facility. The team then learns that a computer technician, Piotr Lejava, is trying to prevent data in the rig's computers from falling into NATO hands, which can only be accessed via the technician's encryption key, and so Fisher trails Lejava around the oil rig until he finally catches him and obtains his laptop along with his encryption key. An interrogation of Lejava reveals that the data concerns something called 'The Ark', but he doesn’t know what it is.

Once extracted, Grimsdottir examines Lejava's laptop. She is shocked to discover that the level of information stored on the laptop could have only been gained by a mole in the CIA. At that moment, the transport plane they are in suddenly performs evasive maneuvers. The pilot apologizes for the faulty collision warning, but an incoming call from Third Echelon commanding officer, Irving Lambert, reveals that North America has just been hit by a cyber warfare attack, targeting mostly military targets. In a broadcast, Nikoladze claims responsibility for the attack and officially declares war on America.

As America struggles to cope with the aftermath of the attack, Fisher infiltrates the CIA's headquarters and accesses the computer mainframe, allowing Grimsdottir to trace the location of the data leak to the personal computer of Mitchell Dougherty, and Fisher is ordered to bring him in for interrogation. Dougherty claims to have no knowledge of a data leak but the NSA learns that his obsessive–compulsive disorder caused him to haul all his data onto an insecure laptop, which was taken advantage of by the nearby network housed in the corporate building of Kalinatek Inc.

Knowing that their operation has been compromised by Grimsdottir's trace, the troops inside Kalinatek attempt to destroy any evidence that could lead to Nikoladze, including their computer technicians. The NSA intercepts a 911 call made from a technician named Ivan who states that his life is in danger, and he will help the American government in exchange for rescue. Lambert then tells Fisher that the FBI will collect Ivan and all he needs is Ivan's encryption key. Fisher locates Ivan and he hands over his encryption key. Fisher escapes from the Kalinatek building, but in the process Wilkes is mortally wounded and later dies. FBI agents eventually arrive to take over the scene and rescue Ivan. Using the encryption key, the NSA discovers that Nikoladze has been using a network of unconventional relays to communicate with the Georgian military cells.

The NSA traces the full relay network to the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, raising questions of Chinese support for the Georgians, which could potentially lead to a war with China. Fisher sneaks onto the embassy grounds, and is able to eavesdrop on a conversation between Nikoladze and General Kong Feirong, a prominent member of China's People's Liberation Army. The conversation reveals that the two are working together.

The NSA learns that the two have brought U.S. military personnel as well as PLA administrators to a local slaughterhouse for execution and plans to broadcast the execution to America via webcast - Fisher delays his objective of interrogating Feirong so that he can save the hostages, which he successfully accomplishes. Fisher then meets with a Chinese informant and learns that Feirong is in command of a renegade faction of the Chinese military and does not represent China in his actions, stabilizing American and Chinese relations and avoiding war for the time being. Fisher's presence is detected, and in a firefight, Fisher kills Grinko. Returning to the embassy, Fisher manages to grab Feirong before he can commit suicide, and forces him to share the information on his computer, which reveals that Nikoladze has fled to Georgia, where he is trying to activate a WMD called "The Ark".

Fisher then rushes to the Georgian Presidential Palace, to prevent Nikoladze and the new temporary defacto president, Cristavi, from accessing the key to the Ark which is revealed to be a nuclear bomb hidden somewhere in America. However, Cristavi's men arrive and hold both Nikoladze and Fisher at gunpoint. Nikoladze reveals that the Ark is already armed and located at the intended target. He bargains to give the Ark key to Cristavi in exchange for safe passage out of Georgia. They take Nikoladze and the Ark key elsewhere, and Fisher is left to be executed - luckily, Lambert organizes for brief blackout, allowing Fisher to escape and locate Nikoladze, who is still trying to negotiate the Ark for his freedom: in order to prevent this from happening, Fisher assassinates Nikoladze, the only person capable of activating the Ark.

With the threat of a major war averted, America begins to recover from the crisis, with the President declaring that a new era of peace has emerged. Nikoladze's corpse is recovered and sparks international backlash for the assassination, however, not known to the public is how it happened; but nonetheless, the President thanks everyone who did their part in ending the crisis and that America “will not forget their resolve”. Fisher laughs at the thanks, watching it at home with his daughter Sarah, who doesn’t know why he’s laughing. Fisher then receives a secure phone call from Lambert about another assignment, obviously disappointing Sarah.