GUN Quest - Only YOU can protect the UF (Sonic the Hedgehog Planquest)

Construction Automata - 3D100 → 210(93 +61 +56) - Project Complete

Four different robots had been brought before Redd during the inspection of the final model designs for the rebuilding process on Prison Island. Besides them, five of GUN's development staff, helmed by the current Head of Development Dr. Elke Ackermann, were doing final diagnostic tests on the demonstration units. In the center of the demonstration area was a neatly stacked set of parts, though their intended purpose was unclear.

Eventually, Dr. Ackermann seemed satisfied enough to begin her presentation on the units. Tapping a few buttons on the nearby console, they all powered to life with a soft hum.

"Thank you Director for giving your time. As you already know, we have been facing constraints on rebuilding some of the older facilities on Prison Island since the start of the pandemic two years ago."

She waves over to the test models, which begin work on assembling the parts.

"We chose to use the Hunter and Rhino model drones as our baseline, as both were already compatible with most of the tools needed for the work. From there, and the assistance of a civilian researcher that was working on developing similar technology for public use, we were able to adapt their virtual intelligences to complete all basic construction tasks. While their capability for more complex tasks is still somewhat restricted, we are hoping to improve this as we finish the upgrade packages for other models."

Turning back to the robots, the final shape of the assembled parts had become clear, having been assembled into a section of precision track that was firmly bolted to the floor. More than enough for what was needed.

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Prison Island Factory Restoration - D100 + 10 → 94(84 + 10) - (94/200)

Progress on rebuilding the factory is proceeding at a good place, and early reports indicate that the currently assembled facilities will soon match the basic contributions of GUN's civilian partners for the assembly of basic drone chassis that are then transferred for final assembly at different depots.

Other systems, meant to automate the installation of the Virtual Intelligence system and calibration of the Chaos Drive, were unable to be completed this month. Unfortunately, both of these processes take the most man hours of GUN personnel to complete, meaning the actual time saved from the first step is negligible at best. A few engineers assure in the report that once a few more pieces of equipment are fabricated, they expect to be able to automate these steps as well.

For now, though, we have a solid foundation to build up from.

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Modernizing the Fleet: Intelligence - D100 → 3 - (3/50)

Progress on the drone modernization program was… disappointing for the month. From a quick interview of the teams, it immediately becomes apparent what caused the apparent lack of progress.

One team, tasked with modernizing the scanner suite, had decided that there was insufficient space within the Beetle platform to fit all of their priority sensor upgrades within the system, and so had been spending the month fabricating prototype chassis to meet this target.
At the same time, another team, tasked with updating the propulsion and power draw systems, had concluded that the best way to improve both systems were a similar set of additions in the exact same locations. The resulting conflict ate up a substantial amount of time as both proposed counterproposals that would allow them to maintain their changes at the cost of the other.

While eventually the individual teams came to an agreement that solved the dispute and brought the project back on track, the net result was that almost no actual work was done this month.

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Collect Specimens of Small Animals - 2D100 → 177(95 +82) - Project Complete, (77/2) → 38 Overflow added to Investigate Small Animal Reports
Investigate Small Animal Reports - 2D100 → 42(32 +10) + 38 = 80 → Project Complete

Redd stood on the observation platform that overlooked the Chao Garden. In the last month, GUN had done its best to collect all of the reported Pygmy Animals that had spontaneously appeared across the city before transporting them to this site near Area 99. To his side, Captain Westwood, the intelligence officer currently leading the operation to retrieve the animals, stood.

It wasn't a perfect solution, and already many news stations were discussing the animals spontaneous appearance before being collected by GUN personnel.

Better that than a contagion of panic on a lack of control, as their appearances had been gradually increasing over the course of the month. Fortunately, Captain Westwood had taken the initiative, with some grumbling, to expand the holding pens to a large-scale holding area for the ballooning population of animals around the Chao Garden, though at the current rate of increase other holding areas would need to be constructed.

It prompted his visit to Area 99 to get guidance from Westwood on his opinions for expanding the capture operation.

"To be honest Director, I think what is going to be most effective is looking for less accommodating pens. It's not like most of these animals are going to notice the reduction in accommodations too badly, and we can keep them restricted to the actual area of Area 99 instead of trekking to the Chao Garden. Keeping them separate is going to be easier for everyone involved.

Westwood paused for a moment, scanning the Garden again.

"Judging on what they are doing to the Chao, a more restrictive quarantine may be appropriate regardless."

Redd couldn't help but agree, to a certain point. Chao were animals very much in tune with the environment, and passively scrubbed large portions of negative energy passively around their Chao Garden. The fact that many were now sprouting horns, wings, and other animalistic mutations seemed to indicate that something was amiss. The lack of distress in the Chao, however, pointed to the contrary. The sensitive creatures should be having substantial fits if they were actually being harmed by the presence of the Pygmies.

If Redd had to guess, Westwood's concern for the Chao was more dependent on a desire to be reassigned to a more dynamic post than guard duty, if only because the intelligence agent felt like it was a better fit for his abilities. If he felt like his talents were being wasted, then he could have some intuition on what was going on with the appearances.

"Captain, have you had a chance to examine for any pattern in where the Pygmies are appearing? Seeing as you have been responsible for collecting them, surely I would have expected you to have noticed something."

Westwood contemplated the question for a moment before answering.

"Biggest pattern so far only seems to be that the vast majority are appearing somewhere within Station Square. A few of my agents even claim to have seen them appear out of nowhere while they were out on retrieval, but it sounds a little too fanciful to me. If they are appearing like that, there has to be something sending them here. "

Sudden manifestation, but almost exclusively around Station Square. Apparently random, but with some intent behind it all. All from an experienced intelligence officer who hadn't the chance to read any of the current reports due to working in the field.

"Thank you for your perspective Captain Westwood. For now, I will look into arranging to lighten your burden with another detention area near the Station Square Chao Garden. Until then please maintain your operations."

Redd made a note to look into transferring Captain Westwood back to active field duty once the opportunity arose. Just as much as the man lacked heart for his charges, he had a strong enough intuition and ruthlessness needed to tackle other threats.

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No incidents occurred this month that were detected by GUN.

Turn 2: August X091

"The signal is getting stronger?"

Dr. Ackerman nodded before pulling up the next slide.

"We've seen a steady climb in signal strength since we first detected the signal. At the current rate of growth, we are expecting to see widespread discovery and damage from unshielded technology across the world. At the current rate, we have two months before I would expect commercial labs to start being affected."

A two month limit was almost certainly going to be insufficient for resolving the problem entirely, especially with the limited additional resources that the civilian government was providing. Unfortunately, without any direct crisis, the oversight committee seemed content to let the amount of resources sit.

"Elke, for now, maintain prioritization on getting as much of the equipment protected as possible from the signal. Once the source of the signal is identified we should be able to shut it down with conventional means."

Standing up, Redd waved goodbye to Dr. Ackerman before returning to his office. While he had enjoyed interacting with the department back as head, as of late whenever they brought news to him as the Director its was almost always bad news.

On arrival, he saw two freshly delivered reports on his desk.

Paging through them, it had become apparent that the Animal crisis was escalating. First, a major incident occurred in the middle of a busy street of Station Square. There, an Animal had appeared and, in a daze, was disrupting traffic. Assuming that it was the same as other appearances, local police forces moved to capture the animal so traffic could resume.

This was a mistake. The animal, later identified as an extremely large Hedgehog, seemed to realize that it was about to be captured, and immediately reacted by fleeing at extreme speeds. The net result of the attempted action was several injured officers and no captured Hedgehog.

A second set of reports was similarly baffling, and if it wasn't located in Station Square Redd would have ignored it. A string of high profile robberies where entire Jewelry Stores were being wiped clean of a massive amount of merchandise. Worst yet, no trace was left of the robber, aside from a calling card that linked every robbery together.

Given the mysterious abilities of the Hedgehog, it was easy to surmise that like another one of these Large Animals could be behind it.

The only good news from the previous month was that the unidentified drones still remained mostly quiet. Though their movements were still shrouded in mystery, and more were still being launched before disappearing to remote areas, they hadn't taken any substantial action yet.

Redd's gut told him that at the current rate of escalation for the other two crises, it wouldn't be that way for long.


Planning Phase

Resources:
GUNpower: 15 (+0)
Chaos Drives: 5

Currently, Public Morale is at 75/100
You have 1 Mandate Die.
Your Current Mandate is: Maintain operational readiness and investigate potential threats

Infrastructure (1 Infrastructure Die)

Prison Island Factory Restoration (M)(94/200) - Now that the surface facilities have been confirmed safe to a modern standard, it's time to restore individual facilities to basic functionality. At the moment, GUN lacks a major industrial facility to assemble the different drone models it employs. The (+1 GUNpower Conversion Rate, +1 Operations Rolls)(Unlocks further projects in this chain)

Prison Island Hangar Restoration (M)(0/200) - Now that the surface facilities have been confirmed safe to a modern standard, it's time to restore individual facilities to basic functionality. Due to the size of Prison Island, it is believed that it would be difficult to monitor the full extent of the island in case of infiltration. To remedy this, some of the existing plane hangers can be modified to instead serve as a hub for a drone monitoring network on the island. (+2 to Prison Island Defense Rolls)(Unlocks further projects in this chain)

Prison Island Lab Improvement (M)(0/200) - Prison Island's labs were the best in the world when they were first set up fifty years ago. Currently, the facilities have been restored to the standard of a modern research facility. The next step is to assemble some of the more specialist equipment that will assist in some of the more specialist research that cannot be entrusted to the general public. (+3 to Research Score)(Unlocks further projects in this chain)

Operations (2 Operations Die)

Refurbishment Effort: Increase GUNpower (M)(0/50)(On Completion: 5 Chaos Drives) - At the moment we lack the ability to automatically replace our drone forces due to depreciation of Prison Island Facilities. As a stopgap measure, we can invest the engineering resources of GUN facilities towards refurbishing mothballed drones to increase the size of the fleet. (+5 GUNpower)

Capture Large Animal (M)(0/120) - Given the reports that larger, more disruptive animals have appeared within Station Square, it is in our best interest to capture them before they can cause havoc. Our best lead is the brief appearance that stopped traffic in the middle of Station Square. By dedicating as many resources as we are to the capture, we should be able to capture any Large Animal for proper investigation. (???)

Capture Mysterious Robot (M)(0/100) - The other major potential threat being monitored at the moment are the unregistered drones that appeared at almost the same time as the Small Animals. The robots have several characteristics that have made capturing them for study difficult, including an apparent limitless energy source similar to the Drives used in our own drones, and the speed to outrun our current intelligence drones to limit monitoring. For us to collect additional data, we will likely need to capture one mostly intact for analysis by research. (Unlocks further projects in this chain)

Research and Development (4 Research Die)

Investigate Interference Signal (M)(0/200) - While the most minor of the current issues brought to your attention, it also likely will be the most difficult of the three to tackle, given the sensitivity of the equipment required to detect it and the disruption it causes to unshielded equipment, special equipment will need to be manufactured before the signals origin can be investigated. (???)

Modernizing the Fleet - Intelligence (M)(3/50) - At the moment, GUN has hit the limit of its intelligence gathering capabilities relying on human intelligence sources. With current technology, developing a modern upgrade to the venerable Beetle series of drones should be well within the capabilities of our research teams. (+2 to Intelligence Score)(May unlock further projects in this chain)

Investigate Chao Modifications (M)(0/75) - After exposure to Small Animals, the local Chao are developing strange mutations that are providing some concern to the officers stationed to watch their holding pens. Running a batch of tests to determine what is happening to the Chao may alleviate some of the fears about the dangers of the animals. (May unlock further projects in the chain)

Intelligence (2 Intelligence Die)

Intelligence (2 Intelligence Die)
Investigate Robbery Reports (M)(0/200) - While a more minor concern compared to the growing issues we are observing from the other crises, resolving this crime spree that is leaving local officials stumped should help us maintain our good graces with the public. (???)

Investigate Mysterious Robots (M)(0/75) - Thankfully, the number of the mysterious robots sightings are substantially less. Unfortunately, this may be due to the individual robots being substantially better at evading detection, going out of their way to move out into wilderness where they would be difficult to spot. As a first step to determining who is operating these robots, we will need to expand our surveillance of individual sightings until we can track a large enough number or encounter whoever is ordering them around. (Unlocks further projects in this chain.)

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As usual everyone, remember to submit proposals as a plan.