Okay, I have a tentative plan of action. Since there's a very good chance I won't be able to finish a stunt before ES cranks one out, I thought I'd go ahead and outline it for criticism.
Use the backdoor we planted in the museum control room to for some Corr 2, Time 2 scrying action to get the find out what's going on in there. At this point we need to be doing maximum information control, and figuring out how much the Ivory Tower knows about who's been saying what. Shut down the message before it gets out of hand.
Once we've established they're the Autopolitans (this is blatantly obvious to the audience), send in people to negotiate, with Jamelia and Baptysme acting as mission control.
Send in Kessler and Henriette. They're both ItXers, thus they have mutual ground, but more importantly, they're free of the Control codes. Kessler can establish that they're not EDEs or possessed by EDEs.
When they mention the Computer attacked them, Henriette will have a PTSD breakdown. We can use a Mind procedure to help shape this inevitable breakdown in a way that won't get her and Kessler killed. The survivors will recognize the PTSD, being so close to their own experiences, and Jamelia can use this as a springboard for a Mind 2, Corr 2 procedure enhancing her mundane Manipulation + (something) roll to convince them not to talk about what they saw amongst the Union at large.
Having established that we're friendly and the need not to talk, Kessler can deploy a Spirit 3 procedure to create the illusion that an infodemon came along for a ride with them and was the actual source of the claim that Friend Computer had gone rogue[1]. The ItXers might have spheres that would work even better for this.
We use the mat-trans to evac the ItXers with paradox too high to leave the Construct straight to our own Construct in LA. If we pull off the coverup, the rest can help out here in Moscow.
With this plan, we work valiantly to recover Union employees and assets in a situation where a more gungho team would wind up destroying them in a massive friendly fire incident orchestrated by an EDE. Tie the EDE in to the mysterious events that caused the near total destruction of Henriette's rescue team, and we can come out smelling like goddamn roses.
Even better, the VEs will recognize the coverup for exactly what it is (a very creative truth) and will probably want to investigate in a way that doesn't start with shooting first and asking questions later. After all, if a groundside Construct is helping to cover up their mess, it would be wise not to barge in just in case they set up a dead man's switch. This means we'll have the opportunity to leverage our knowledge into joining their conspiracy without getting crushed under their hamhanded coverups.
[1]When it later comes out that the Computer really has gone rogue, it's simple enough to claim that we had no way of independently confirming the infodemon's claim, and felt it best to keep it quiet until we could confirm it. They don't need to know that we're suspicious until we absolutely have to.
Immediate issue - massively warded Primium vault + whatever counterprocedures they're using say "No". And also risks counter-scrying sympathetic assaults. As potentially rogue Unionists who are deploying in force and who aren't just a few isolated vitae-addicts, we must assume they're following protocol. And we know, from how we were there when they attacked, that they are very rigid in their assault.
Now, on the plus side, that Primium is probably getting in the way of them doing sympathetic magic out, but the point remains that that doesn't help us find out what's happening inside.
...
I also don't like the number of failure points in that plan, considering how much shit has gone wrong in Moscow so far.
Immediate issue - massively warded Primium vault + whatever counterprocedures they're using say "No". And also risks counter-scrying sympathetic assaults. As potentially rogue Unionists who are deploying in force and who aren't just a few isolated vitae-addicts, we must assume they're following protocol. And we know, from how we were there when they attacked, that they are very rigid in their assault.
Now, on the plus side, that Primium is probably getting in the way of them doing sympathetic magic out, but the point remains that that doesn't help us find out what's happening inside.
...
I also don't like the number of failure points in that plan, considering how much shit has gone wrong in Moscow so far.
Outside of the scrying procedure, none of the failure points have to risk assets. If we determine they're EDEs (hopefully from a safe distance), we can drop Achilles on them. If negotiations break down, Kessler is there to stage a fighting retreat. We can have the loyalist Russians stage overwatch/quarantine. After negotiations break down, we can either drop Achilles (again) or bring in the VAs again with the promise of sweet loot. Hell, we could always leak information from our blackout to draw Panopticon in.
I don't see a way we can prepare for the worst case scenarios better than that without forcibly locking ourselves out of the best case scenario. I'll edit it a bit more.
Okay, I have a tentative plan of action. Since there's a very good chance I won't be able to finish a stunt before ES cranks one out, I thought I'd go ahead and outline it for criticism.
Use the backdoor we planted in the museum control room to for some Corr 2, Time 2 scrying action to get the find out what's going on in there. At this point we need to be doing maximum information control, and figuring out how much the Ivory Tower knows about who's been saying what. Shut down the message before it gets out of hand.
Once we've established they're the Autopolitans (this is blatantly obvious to the audience), send in people to negotiate, with Jamelia and Baptysme acting as mission control.
Send in Kessler and Henriette. They're both ItXers, thus they have mutual ground, but more importantly, they're free of the Control codes. Kessler can establish that they're not EDEs or possessed by EDEs.
When they mention the Computer attacked them, Henriette will have a PTSD breakdown. We can use a Mind procedure to help shape this inevitable breakdown in a way that won't get her and Kessler killed. The survivors will recognize the PTSD, being so close to their own experiences, and Jamelia can use this as a springboard for a Mind 2, Corr 2 procedure enhancing her mundane Manipulation + (something) roll to convince them not to talk about what they saw amongst the Union at large.
Having established that we're friendly and the need not to talk, Kessler can deploy a Spirit 3 procedure to create the illusion that an infodemon came along for a ride with them and was the actual source of the claim that Friend Computer had gone rogue[1]. The ItXers might have spheres that would work even better for this.
We use the mat-trans to evac the ItXers with paradox too high to leave the Construct straight to our own Construct in LA. If we pull off the coverup, the rest can help out here in Moscow.
With this plan, we work valiantly to recover Union employees and assets in a situation where a more gungho team would wind up destroying them in a massive friendly fire incident orchestrated by an EDE. Tie the EDE in to the mysterious events that caused the near total destruction of Henriette's rescue team, and we can come out smelling like goddamn roses.
Even better, the VEs will recognize the coverup for exactly what it is (a very creative truth) and will probably want to investigate in a way that doesn't start with shooting first and asking questions later. After all, if a groundside Construct is helping to cover up their mess, it would be wise not to barge in just in case they set up a dead man's switch. This means we'll have the opportunity to leverage our knowledge into joining their conspiracy without getting crushed under their hamhanded coverups.
[1]When it later comes out that the Computer really has gone rogue, it's simple enough to claim that we had no way of independently confirming the infodemon's claim, and felt it best to keep it quiet until we could confirm it. They don't need to know that we're suspicious until we absolutely have to.
They've holed up in the vault, instead of spreading around to secure the Construct. This means we can't really scry on them, but in turn, they can't really get messages out very well, either. We can keep watch on the vault door until we can get Henriette or Serafina to send in a few sacrificial drones as scouts.
We have loyalist Russians to establish a cordon. We might be able to play off sending our negotiators in as police hostage negotiators to hopefully get across that we're willing to talk before coming in shooting.
If they're EDEs, pull out, drop Achilles, and be done with it.
No issues here. Everything is just stunt fodder for a negotiation roll.
This is something I'm not totally sure we can pull off, and we'll need to rethink things if we can't. Possible alternate solutions are to direct the VEs to them and hope for the best, or to have them go Reality Deviant. The second option is really bad, and may wind up being potentially worse for us than trying to kill them all.
The big issue that I don't see a way to plan around is somebody else barging in and making a mess of things. Panopticon going in before us can screw over attempts to make a peace offering. I don't see a good way to keep the Carmarilla or Baali from trying to retake the Construct while we're negotiating, except to make it seem like too hard a target for the effort. Choristers are unlikely to try and convert them, and are thus likely to leave it to us if we make a show of force. Other RD groups may try to negotiate themselves, and the only way to prevent that is to get to them first.
By putting up an information blackout, we can minimize the chances of these groups catching on, and more importantly, it will make it harder for Threat Null to try and paint them as Nephandi as a way of drawing down the wrath of the various RDs.
***************
Kessler floated in the medical tank, his outer skin slowly regrowing. Dr. Rosario had proven to be a good sport once they started talking. She'd even rolled in a huge plasma screen to watch movies on from the time he'd been gone to both keep him entertained and to let him catch up on the pop culture that he'd missed, so he wouldn't be quite so much a fish out of water on that. She'd initially threatened to leave him in the tank with nothing but 'chick flicks' to watch, but had relented to bringing him an array of action movies and a few other odds and ends.
'That 'Matrix' trilogy was definitely written by someone who'd been taking a lot of drugs after hearing about ItX. Hmm...'
The huge widescreen, that Dr. Rosario claimed was now Sleeper tech, showed the next video to be by something called 'The Lonely Island': "Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions" 'Hey! I wrote my dissertation on that! "Psychological Intimidation of Disrupted Opponents by Non-Observation of Prepared Demolition Sites", (Technocratic Central University, 1987) I can't believe Sleepers duplicated my research! I've got to tell Director Belltower about this!'
****************
Henriette wiped her eyes and grabbed another tissue to blow her nose. "You tell anyone about this and I'll kill you."
Aristede smiled tiredly. "Boy, if I had a nickel for every time I've heard that..."
"Shut up." Henriette steadied her breathing and pushed the picture of her parents away on the table. She pushed it away, but defiantly towards her left, not back towards Aristede. This had been the first time in months she'd been able to even look at a picture of them without screaming. Even breaking down sobbing had been better. Aristede had put out his hand for her desperation-tight grip through the entire episode. "...thank you," she mumbled quietly, without raising her head.
Aristede just nodded and pulled a second picture out of his briefcase. He laid it silently on the table between them. It was an original, not a computer printed copy, and it showed its age. It was discolored in spots from old moisture, and badly dog eared on all corners. It showed a much younger-looking Aristede smiling, arm in arm with a tall brunette woman on a city sidewalk somewhere. The architecture was vaguely European, but she couldn't place it. "A friend of yours?" she asked.
He nodded. "Augustina Czota. That was Belgrade, 1996. She was....a very close friend."
Henriette didn't try to bury the chill that ran down her spine at his words. Not anymore. She could hear familiar pain in his statement. "Was?"
"She was a truly gifted Enlightened Scientist. Two years after that picture was taken she accepted a position on one of the research stations out in the Umbra. It was supposed to be a three-year rotation. We had plans for after she came back Earthside," he said the words almost calmly. He picked the picture back up and looked at it for a long minute. His eyes slowly drifted back to Henriette's. "You're not alone, miss. You never are. I should have realized that myself..."
"What are you talking about?"
The older Agent shook himself. "I....the Union doesn't like Psionics anymore. 'Too close to Reality Deviant nonsense', they decided. But I'm still here, and I can't just turn it off. So sometimes I.....hear things. Voices that sound like Control, but aren't. Trying to tell me to just let them in, follow orders that I know are...wrong. Like that thing that you and Sergeant Kessler encountered."
Henriette's throat tightened. Aristede was just hitting every memory she didn't want to think about, today. But that was why he was here. "I...wait, you've been hearing them? For a while now?"
He nodded again. "You're not the first, and you're not alone. And I think it's time I told your Director about some of what I've been hearing lately." He smiled wearily. "It's good to know you're not just crazy, isn't it?"
For the first time that day, Henriette smiled back. "Yeah."
"Welcome back to the war, miss."
***********************
Rose skipped happily ahead of her mother and Constable Cross. The light of a much warmer sun than shone on Moscow made her smile almost shine as her mother and semi-brother walked more slowly behind. "Come on! Donald showed me this amazing place called 'Cold Stone Creamery'! They've got all the flavors!"
Cross looked at his 'mother'. "And she just absorbed a year and change worth of economics studies and Prime techniques since she's been here?"
Dr. Rosario smiled. "It's amazing what some ice cream can accomplish, isn't it?"
"I'd wondered why Rose brought in 19 gallons of the stuff yesterday...."
"Oh, hush. And catch up to your sister before she buys the whole place out."
Jamelia strides into the impromptu control room, secretly very glad that she got sleep last night. Now she should be good for a couple of days at least.
Dr Rosario is here, working on her laptop. She looks up. "Don't say it," Serafina says, frowning.
Jamelia stares back at her impassively.
"You're going to say it. You're going to allow yourself a moment of gloating before you get back to work. I don't need to be some expert at hypermathematical future forecasting to know that."
"I don't gloat," Jamelia says calmly. "But I would just like to point out that I told you bad things happen when I take days off."
"You didn't say that! You merely implied it by providing circumstantial evidence that the last time you took a week off, the Week of Nightmares happened! Fine! You said it! You got your honestly-not-gloating done! Now can we move on?"
"What's the current status?"
Serafina clears her throat, resettling herself. "As soon as I got your message, I confirmed with Ivan that we have a provisional media blackout in effect. He's handling that. Since the museum is closed anyway, it makes things easier. So far his dragnet has caught several data-driven attempts to breach it. I've ensured that our amalgam's forces are prepared and ready for deployment, but he advised I hold back for now until you were here." There is a look of desperation in her eyes. "You have a plan?" she asks.
"I'm working on it," Jamelia says. She doesn't have a plan. Not yet. She doesn't have enough information yet to have a plan. What she has is training.
Serafina takes a deep breath. "I'm worried," she says softly. "Just yesterday you told me about... about what could happen if something happened to the Union." Jamelia can see the bags barely visible under the other woman's beautiful dark eyes. "And now this. It feels like something out there is playing with us."
Jamelia clears her throat. "With regards to the images attached to the orders," she says, "the gear used by the attackers looks like Iteration X stuff, and pretty high end at that. It won't be too reliable outside the controlled environment in the construct - might not even be reliable in there, because some of that stuff looks like space-issue plasma lances and the like - but it'll be a bloodbath getting in. I don't want to have to do an assault. They tore the rogue Unionists and their v-addict allies to shreds, and we're not a combat-focussed amalgam. Local assets are heavily depleted and if we push the hostiles they might try to flee through the TransMat, or break-out to do a 'suicide run' broadcast. We need to keep this under control and avoid pushing them, or they might call our bluff - and we are bluffing."
She massages her temples.
"Ivan needs to focus on media control and infowar," she says. "Stop the information getting out, above all. We don't have the on-site assets to reliably carry out an attack, and if we try to contain them we'll be having to leave the heavy gear out in unfriendly conditions while they're in the nice safe Construct. Moreover, this is a chance to regain media influence. The vampires are in chaos, and that means they're going to be less unified in how they try to control this, but they've just lost even more rogue Unionists and ghouls so their daytime assets are depleted. If we can lever this into regaining media control, that will serve us in the long run as well as making the containment of this situation easier to handle.
She purses her lips. "I'm pretty sure he has haemophage contacts and helped with the initial cover-up," she says darkly, "so we can get the damned haemophages to provide the inner expendable defensive line - after all, let them think they're 'in charge'. Any heavier assets of ours should be positioned for counter-assault if they try a break-out, so it looks like we have more heavy units around than we really do."
Serafina looks up. "Aren't you focussing too much on the haemophages?" she asks.
"No," Jamelia says coldly. "If we have to rely on them to suppress the information, we're not suppressing the information at all. You want those... those parasites to have this as leverage? Or just to blab about this to Reality Deviants? Or to use against local Unionists who might be wavering in loyalty?"
"Oh," Serafina says. "Yes." She taps her fingers against the tabletop. "I've been thinking about how to approach contact with the unknowns. Without risking ourselves or using assets which might have to be... ahem, 'kept quiet'. ROBobs?" she suggests.
"What, the HITMarks?"
"No, I said ROBobs, not 'robots'. Remote Operated Bobs." She pauses. "It's Progenitor humour," she says awkwardly. "We can try seeing if they get shot on sight if we try to talk them down."
Jamelia stares flatly at Serafina. "The Progenitors really have to get out more," she observes. "So, hmm. More expendable than a HITMark, certainly. If they have high end Iterator gear, we're not getting anything back if they start shooting, so we might as well send a Bob."
"That was my thought," Serafina agrees. "I was also thinking that if they believe the Computer is a threat, something purely meat might arouse less suspicion," she adds, picking her words with care. "That's another thing. If they're rogue Iterators, they're likely untrained in Dimensional Science. Ale... Cross might be able to use that. He can trail behind the ROBob. This construct will be properly defended – and he certainly won't be able to enter the vault itself – but it might allow him to at least observe them from a position of relative safety. And see if they're really human, or if they're EDEs."
"Good point," Jamelia agrees. She sighs. "EXEMPLAR constructs are so useful to have around with those innate DSci capacities. I can think of several occasions in the past I'd have liked for my DSci backup to not have to lug around a heavy backpack and scanning equipment to get worse performance."
"I'm not just a pretty face," Serafina says with forced humour. "Though… if it comes to DSci backup… should we try to get the Void Engineers involved?"
"I think we need to know more before we can do that," Jamelia says, after some thought. "There are things we need to know before we can take further actions. Who they are, what they want, whether they're human…"
"When they're from," Serafina says thoughtfully.
"I beg your pardon."
"When they're from," Serafina repeats. "I talked to Kessler a little bit yesterday, getting to know him better and we got to talking about some of the things he saw out there. No wonder he seems a bit… eccentric. He says he's not entirely sure how long it was for him – time itself wasn't flowing at the same rate." She pauses. "He also tried to claim that he surfed the MIR space station back to Earth, but he admitted that he was bullshitting there because 'the Void Engineers found me when they were trying to salvage a ship' doesn't sound as cool. I'm getting distracted. My point is, time works differently in other Dimensions. We don't know when they're from. The early 90s, abandoned out there for over two decades? Are they a team lost in the Anomaly. Or," she pauses for dramatic effect, "are they from that assault on Autocthonia Henriette was a part of?"
"Henriette will be a problem," Jamelia says coldly.
"It's not her fault," Serafina says, narrowing her eyes. "She was…"
"I know it's not her fault," Jamelia says patiently, "but that doesn't it being a problem when she freaks out when I try to brief the team and use the word 'Computer' in the process. As in 'the intruders claim that the Computer is evil'."
"Ah. Yes. That might be a problem."
"Might?"
"Okay, will. I'll see if I can give her something to keep her calmer."
Uh, I'd just like to point out that "assume because they're ItX they will not have Dimensional Science" might potentially be a bad guess.
If you're trapped in the Umbra, what Sphere is the one you really want to pick up fast if you do not have it? I'm going to guess Dimensional Science/Spirit is what you're going to acquire out of sheer necessity.
Even Kessler did it. By drinking the blood of dragons admittedly. But whose to say these Iterators did not do something similar? Or maybe they have a Daemon along who can do this. Or maybe they have a spare Void Engineer along.
Or maybe the Construct itself has some DimSci foci (anti-Spirit Intruder Countermeasures, or Scanners that can detect spirit crap) which they could use.
I don't feel comfortable sending Cross in like that.
EDIT: Also, lol at the fact of how these guys (who are worried about the Union being subverted or taken over or whatever) come out in a place that has Technocrat defectors. The first thing they have to do is fight Technocrats subordinate to Vampires.
Now that must have seemed like an ominous and inauspicious start to their arrival.
FLASH TRANSMISSION
FROM: "Crisis Management Committee" CMC.CMD.JOINT.TU TO: JB451.OP.NWO.TU RE: Unknown Threat in Moscow
Intelligence reports that the Moscow museum's caretaker crew of Technocratic personnel was killed by rogue agents using Iteration X equipment.Numbers and disposition are unknown. As your AO is currently in Moscow, Russia, we are extending your mission to remove these unknown hostiles. They must either capitulate or be eliminated. There is no room for compromise or negotiation in this situation. The hostiles are spreading anti-Union propaganda, claiming that the Union has been subverted by EDEs. Beware, they may be seeking to defect to Reality Deviants. Your mission objectives are threefold:
1. Silence/discredit the Anti-Union propaganda.
2. Investigate who these unknown hostiles are and what their goals are.
3. Terminate these rogue agents. All sanction is allowed.
All available information is attached.
[Blurry pictures of Iteration X equipment engaging Moscow Technocrats has been attached. Most of them look to have been taken from the construct underneath the museum.]
Ah, I'd just remembered this upon doing a read-through.
Uh. It sounds like the Crisis Management Committee weren't even aware that the Museum was in Hemophage control? The fuck? Am I reading that right?
But that doesn't even make sense -- these were the guys that first initially sent Jamelia's Construct to investigate the Artifact theft.
Did they just not realize that after the Museum was broken into, it did not go back under loyal Technocrat control? How the hell do you miss something like that? If you are ware enough to start an investigation into artifact theft you ought to be aware of what the actual status of the Museum itself would be. -_-;
He's not going in. He's lurking behind the ROBob in the Umbra, watching through the Gauntlet, using Forces 2 Invisibility where he doesn't have to care about vulgarity and making full use of cover so even if they can see across the Gauntlet, they'll have problems seeing him. All he's doing is getting close enough to check the outermost perimeter guards, if he can.
As I said, "This construct will be properly defended – and he certainly won't be able to enter the vault itself – but it might allow him to at least observe them from a position of relative safety.". Of course he won't be able to go into the Vault proper, because this place will be defended up the wazoo. But given a choice between "checking from the normal world where they can all certainly shoot him" and "checking from the Umbra where he is better set up to escape if something does go wrong, can use his Time all the time to check for dangers in the next short while without risk of vulgarity, and he's doing it from a place the opponents have an institutional bias against having the sensory gear for", I know which one I'd prefer.
And we need to get him into a position to check, because he doesn't have Correspondence and so he can't remote-scan them; he has to be there in person to go "yep, that man is certainly a hollow shell worn by a spirit" or not.
Yeah. I'm saying that I'm a little worried about doing even that. Because if they have somebody with DimSci, they'll be able to notice him right? And it might make them twitchy.
Yeah. I'm saying that I'm a little worried about doing even that. Because if they have somebody with DimSci, they'll be able to notice him right? And it might make them twitchy.
He'll be on the other side of the Gauntlet. To see him, they'd need to use DSci or Spirit to see across the Gauntlet, then beat his Stealth rolls (which he can freely enhance with magic, so Forces 2 Active Camo makes it even harder to see the professional soldier).
And if you're getting worried about that, let me tell you that trying to scry them is far more risky because Correspondence is far, far more ubiquitous among Technocrats than DSci.
Ah, I'd just remembered this upon doing a read-through.
Uh. It sounds like the Crisis Management Committee weren't even aware that the Museum was in Hemophage control? The fuck? Am I reading that right?
But that doesn't even make sense -- these were the guys that first initially sent Jamelia's Construct to investigate the Artifact theft.
Did they just not realize that after the Museum was broken into, it did not go back under loyal Technocrat control? How the hell do you miss something like that? If you are ware enough to start an investigation into artifact theft you ought to be aware of what the actual status of the Museum itself would be. -_-;
Dude they don't know how badly Russia has gone to shit, this was established at the beginning of the mission. Hell the bit where Jamelia snuck into the museum, talked about how the Camarilla have everyone back in the West thinking shit is all peachy in Russia.
[X] 1.5x) You need more information. Something here is suspicious.
-[X] We were just in the Museum's control room yesterday. The virus we planted (Corr 2, Time 2) will let us observe the recordings of the assault and what they're doing currently, if they're still held up in there.
I wonder. Can we somehow lure the VEs here, while leaving them ignorant about the whole 'guys we know you're fighting the Computer'? Possibly on the grounds of advising with the extradimensional aspects of the case - after all, right, they're the Dimensional Science experts. If these people are EDEs or EDE possessed trying to sow chaos among the ranks of the Union, then the VEs have the job of dealing with them. If they're Iterators who have stumbled across the truth, then the VEs - we think - have been recruiting everyone who stumbles across the truth, and they seem to be a non-neglibible force.
... man. If only we had a contact who was a Void Engineer who was very skilled at DSci and Correspondence who we would ask about things and if she happened to look at the Museum data she could probably get information from the MatTrans ripple or something and then alert her organisation without it looking like we "accidentally" let her know about that when we "just wanted her to advise on the EDE artefacts".
If we get the VEs involved, isn't there a risk that they'll panic, go into damage control mode, and take unhelpful action up to and maybe including trying to straight-up kill everybody in the museum to keep their secrets secret?
He'll be on the other side of the Gauntlet. To see him, they'd need to use DSci or Spirit to see across the Gauntlet, then beat his Stealth rolls (which he can freely enhance with magic, so Forces 2 Active Camo makes it even harder to see the professional soldier).
And if you're getting worried about that, let me tell you that trying to scry them is far more risky because Correspondence is far, far more ubiquitous among Technocrats than DSci.
[X] 1.5x) You need more information. Something here is suspicious.
[x] PLAN Bob Cross (not Bob Ross) Ninja team.
also just floating the idea of maybe breaking it to Management how shit things are in Rossiya land and asking for them to please send NWO and Syndicate support to capitalize on current hemophage political instability and reinforce the basically purged loyalist technos.
... man. If only we had a contact who was a Void Engineer who was very skilled at DSci and Correspondence who we would ask about things and if she happened to look at the Museum data she could probably get information from the MatTrans ripple or something and then alert her organisation without it looking like we "accidentally" let her know about that when we "just wanted her to advise on the EDE artefacts".
I can't speak for Void Engineers, but if the Voids really are (they totally are) making pragmatic alliances and loosening their reaction to former threats like the trads, then it may be possible to get information to them by nonstandard means. If Donald still has some of his old contacts, or hell, if Kessler knows anyone across the thin blue line that could get a message to them- because going through normal channels is probably going to be problematic.
Not saying, mind you, that this is a great idea, but its an idea.
I also strongly suggest NOT breaking it to management how shit everything is and asking for full combat support- HQ will probably not respons... well, and anyways it's been our job to deal with this shit. We should only forward it up the chain when we absolutely have to, beyond the requisite reports we've been sending. Calling in for lots and lots and lots of backup, however much we might need it, introduces so many variables that could cause all sorts of problems, to say nothing of HQ coming to the conclusion that our Amalgam can't handle this level of work on its own, when in all honesty we've been doing quite well with it. Obviously we should request aid when we need it, and when it's presented, but I don't think going to a full board hearing or whatever is the answer at the moment.
Also, @EarthScorpion I really like how you're characterizing Kessler. He's become far bigger and hammier than I could ever manage, I approve.
Semi-worst case scenario, do you think it could be possible for Jamelia and co. to successfully subdue them using non-lethal methods such as tranq rounds? Followed by shipping them off to the VE for anti-EDE processing because the VE are the dimensional science experts?
Remember, these guys and girls have Iteration X tech that literally doesn't work on Earth. Black hole guns, acausal hyperspatial weapon systems, high end war-daemons, and the like.
You know the spy movie analogies ES brought up? These guys are from a Polity novel, whereas earth side ItX is Ghost in the Shell.
Remember, these guys and girls have Iteration X tech that literally doesn't work on Earth. Black hole guns, acausal hyperspatial weapon systems, high end war-daemons, and the like.
You know the spy movie analogies ES brought up? These guys are from a Polity novel, whereas earth side ItX is Ghost in the Shell.
The Polity isn't Culture-level, but they have an awful lot of very sexy hardware to play with even at the infantry scale, ranging from rifle-sized gigawatt proton weapons to singuns to orbit-capable war drones with enough firepower and armour to threaten light starships. All of which are hideously vulgar and would eat Paradox like Pringles under the restrictions of Consensus, but for the short time they're operational would mangle anything even vaguely coincidental.
Jamelia strides into the impromptu control room, secretly very glad that she got sleep last night. Now she should be good for a couple of days at least.
Dr Rosario is here, working on her laptop. She looks up. "Don't say it," Serafina says, frowning.
Jamelia stares back at her impassively.
"You're going to say it. You're going to allow yourself a moment of gloating before you get back to work. I don't need to be some expert at hypermathematical future forecasting to know that."
"I don't gloat," Jamelia says calmly. "But I would just like to point out that I told you bad things happen when I take days off."
"You didn't say that! You merely implied it by providing circumstantial evidence that the last time you took a week off, the Week of Nightmares happened! Fine! You said it! You got your honestly-not-gloating done! Now can we move on?"
"What's the current status?"
Serafina clears her throat, resettling herself. "As soon as I got your message, I confirmed with Ivan that we have a provisional media blackout in effect. He's handling that. Since the museum is closed anyway, it makes things easier. So far his dragnet has caught several data-driven attempts to breach it. He says that it'll probably be impossible to contain their cyberwarfare programs in three hours. I've ensured that our amalgam's forces are prepared and ready for deployment, but he advised I hold back for now until you were here." There is a look of desperation in her eyes. "You have a plan?" she asks.
"I'm working on it," Jamelia says. She doesn't have a plan. Not yet. She doesn't have enough information yet to have a plan. What she has is training.
Serafina takes a deep breath. "I'm worried," she says softly. "Just yesterday you told me about... about what could happen if something happened to the Union." Jamelia can see the bags barely visible under the other woman's beautiful dark eyes. "And now this. It feels like something out there is playing with us."
Jamelia clears her throat. "With regards to the images attached to the orders," she says, "the gear used by the attackers looks like Iteration X stuff, and pretty high end at that. It won't be too reliable outside the controlled environment in the construct - might not even be reliable in there, because some of that stuff looks like space-issue plasma lances and the like - but it'll be a bloodbath getting in. I don't want to have to do an assault. They tore the rogue Unionists and their v-addict allies to shreds, and we're not a combat-focussed amalgam. Local assets are heavily depleted and if we push the hostiles they might try to flee through the TransMat, or break-out to do a 'suicide run' broadcast. We need to keep this under control and avoid pushing them, or they might call our bluff - and we are bluffing."
She massages her temples.
"Ivan needs to focus on media control and infowar," she says. "Stop the information getting out, above all. We don't have the on-site assets to reliably carry out an attack, and if we try to contain them we'll be having to leave the heavy gear out in unfriendly conditions while they're in the nice safe Construct. Moreover, this is a chance to regain media influence. The vampires are in chaos, and that means they're going to be less unified in how they try to control this, but they've just lost even more rogue Unionists and ghouls so their daytime assets are depleted. If we can lever this into regaining media control, that will serve us in the long run as well as making the containment of this situation easier to handle."
She purses her lips. "I'm pretty sure he has hemophage contacts and helped with the initial cover-up," she says darkly, "so we can get the damned hemophages to provide the inner expendable defensive line - after all, let them think they're 'in charge'. Any heavier assets of ours should be positioned for counter-assault if they try a break-out, so it looks like we have more heavy units around than we really do."
Serafina looks up. "Aren't you focusing too much on the hemophages?" she asks.
"No," Jamelia says coldly. "If we have to rely on them to suppress the information, we're not suppressing the information at all. You want those... those parasites to have this as leverage? Or just to blab about this to Reality Deviants? Or to use against local Unionists who might be wavering in loyalty?"
"Oh," Serafina says. "Yes." She taps her fingers against the tabletop. "I've been thinking about how to approach contact with the unknowns. Without risking ourselves or using assets which might have to be... ahem, 'kept quiet'. ROBobs?" she suggests.
"What, the HITMarks?"
"No, I said ROBobs, not 'robots'. Remote Operated Bobs." She pauses. "It's Progenitor humor," she says awkwardly. "We can try seeing if they get shot on sight if we try to talk them down."
Jamelia stares flatly at Serafina. "The Progenitors really have to get out more," she observes. "So, hmm. More expendable than a HITMark, certainly. If they have high end Iterator gear, we're not getting anything back if they start shooting, so we might as well send a Bob."
"That was my thought," Serafina agrees. "I was also thinking that if they believe the Computer is a threat, something purely meat might arouse less suspicion," she adds, picking her words with care. "That's another thing. If they're rogue Iterators, they're likely untrained in Dimensional Science. Ale... Cross might be able to use that. He can trail behind the ROBob. This construct will be properly defended – and he certainly won't be able to enter the vault itself – but it might allow him to at least observe them from a position of relative safety. And see if they're really human, or if they're EDEs."
"Good point," Jamelia agrees. She sighs. "EXEMPLAR constructs are so useful to have around with those innate DSci capacities. I can think of several occasions in the past I'd have liked for my DSci backup to not have to lug around a heavy backpack and scanning equipment to get worse performance."
"I'm not just a pretty face," Serafina says with forced humor. "Though… if it comes to DSci backup… should we try to get the Void Engineers involved?"
"I think we need to know more before we can do that," Jamelia says, after some thought. "There are things we need to know before we can take further actions. Who they are, what they want, whether they're human…"
"When they're from," Serafina says thoughtfully.
"I beg your pardon."
"When they're from," Serafina repeats. "I talked to Kessler a little bit yesterday, getting to know him better and we got to talking about some of the things he saw out there. No wonder he seems a bit… eccentric. He says he's not entirely sure how long it was for him – time itself wasn't flowing at the same rate." She pauses. "He also tried to claim that he surfed the MIR space station back to Earth, but he admitted that he was bullshitting there because 'the Void Engineers found me when they were trying to salvage a ship' doesn't sound as cool. I'm getting distracted. My point is, time works differently in other Dimensions. We don't know when they're from. The early 90s, abandoned out there for over two decades? Are they a team lost in the Anomaly. Or," she pauses for dramatic effect, "are they from that assault on Autocthonia Henriette was a part of?"
"Henriette will be a problem," Jamelia says coldly.
"It's not her fault," Serafina says, narrowing her eyes. "She was…"
"I know it's not her fault," Jamelia says patiently, "but that doesn't it being a problem when she freaks out when I try to brief the team and use the word 'Computer' in the process. As in 'the intruders claim that the Computer is evil'."
"Ah. Yes. That might be a problem."
"Might?"
"Okay, will. I'll see if I can give her something to keep her calmer."
***
Henriette looks on calmly as Jamelia lays out the facts of the operation. She resisted a bit when Serafina insisted that she take a half-dose of euphoriants and a half-dose of CalmDown, but the combination has left her happier and more carefree than she's been in a long while. The only slight black mark to her day is that it's chemically assisted, and because of the tweaks to the dosage she's got enough presence of mind to realize that.
Which isn't much of a black mark at all, when she listens to Jamelia talk about their claims of Autochthonia being taken over by a hostile AI and the Computer going rogue. She still doesn't want to think about it, doesn't want to dwell on what Director Belltower has said, but she's managed to go through the briefing without having a mental breakdown or crying even once, and she knows what her job is.
Drive to the museum and drop off Cross and these remote controlled Bobs. If anything goes wrong, get out of there, don't even bother fighting back. Simple.
***
Henriette feels slightly giddy. She's pretty much all alone here, with a gorgeous and polite man who is sitting literally close enough to touch, and absolutely nothing trying to shoot at her or anything. Sure, he might be artificial, but she's a member of Iteration X. You simply don't join the Convention if you think perfection is born, not made. Now's her chance.
"So..." Henriette begins. "has Rose always been this huggy? She snuck into my bed a few nights ago, and..."
"Not around me, no." Cross says. "I don't know why she did that. Maybe she likes you?"
"You think she's into girls?" Henriette asks, without thinking. "I mean- I'm not interested in her!" she clarifies hastily.
"I'm not sure about who she likes, especially since she's absurdly friendly to everyone." Cross responds. "Maybe you should spend more time with her if you're wondering about that. There's nothing wrong with her having friends."
I'm not her friend! Henriette wants to yell, but she thinks that doing so would make her look bad in front of Cross. "But you do a very good job of taking care of her, and you don't even have any obligations to."
Cross shrugs. "It's how things are," he says. "The rest of us - well, we're like siblings, or cousins if we were raised separately. But Rose is young in a way that most of us never were. So we look out for her. Especially since she has no batch-mates like her."
Henriette frowns, and then smiles. "Ah," she says, "I suppose that makes sense. So she's sort of like the... uh, the 'team little sister'?"
"That probably works," Cross agrees. "I never had a little sister, but it seems to match up. You?"
Henriette belatedly realizes she led this conversation into bad territory. "Only child," she says quickly. "My childhood was a bit disrupted, especially when they - my foster parents - realized I'd Enlightened at age five. It wasn't expected."
"So what was being a kid like?" Cross asks.
Henriette resists the urge to cry at how badly she's messed up this little line of questioning. She can't wait to get to the Moscow museum and leave this behind her. "It was fun!" she forces herself to sound cheerful. "I had some really fun toys when I was young. Do you know those Morphix things?"
"Right, those polymorphic self-animated building blocks you can use to make anything. We had them in the rec room, and I got Rose a set a while back. They're great fun for kids." Cross says. "Actually, that reminds me. I need to pick a present up for Rose for her birthday next month and I'm running out of ideas. You have any good suggestions, since you've spent so much time around her?"
If Henriette didn't have to keep both her hands on the wheel, she would put her face into them to weep.
***
Jamelia hasn't ever telepresenced a Bob before. She doesn't like it. The delay, the clumsiness, the weakness of the body are things she experiences acutely. Also, the dim pain in the back of her head from minor neural incompatibility. But it's at least safer than actually being there in the museum. She's unarmed, which is unusual for entering a potentially hostile environment, but here even if she had her Alanson and an IX-15, she's pretty sure all it'd mean is that she'd take moderately more effort to vaporize.
The museum itself has essentially nonexistent security-there's a few cameras that have been reactivated with aftermarket modifications, but absolutely nothing else. She suspects that these 'rogues', whoever they are, have malfunction-prone technology, that they won't be using it unless absolutely necessary. She hopes that means they'll talk before shooting, because nothing adds up.
Serafina's question about when these men and women are from echoes in her mind.
"Got your back." Cross whispers, over the transdimensional comm. Jamelia doesn't know where he is. For all she knows, he's naked in front of her dancing a jig while he says that. Subdimensions. So annoying.
"Just remember, if it ends up being a shooting gallery, do not engage. It's not your job and there's nothing here you need to keep alive."
"Rog." he responds.
Jamelia takes the stairs down and into the Construct, and is immediately met by a surfeit of very large weapons carried by very dangerous-looking men and women. Their sole identification is a variety of late-90s era Iteration X gear and the IBM logo on their shoulders. International Brotherhood of Mechanicians, Jamelia thinks. So they're not identifying themselves as Iteration X anymore. It adds evidence to her theory.
"Tech support got fed up with the shit we've been asking them, I guess." Cross says. "Looks like the scrawniest of these people have some serious combat mods, but they aren't aliens wearing the skin of men or something. I suppose some of those are the 'non-combatants', because they look like they could only wrestle one grizzly bear and win."
Jamelia scans the faces she's looking at, checks their files reflexively. Christopher Salid, Progenitor. Specialized in human-machine interface, basically permanently seconded to Iteration X. He was moderately augmented before, but now he's taken it to extremes. Underneath his body armor, she can almost see the elective xenografts from daemon-derived components, the interplay between alien flesh and machinery that his movements hint at. Jamelia thinks that despite her excellent martial arts and marksmanship training, even if she had a gun on her, drawn on him, and wasn't telepresencing a ROBob, he'd tear her apart in seconds. She suspects he may be one of the less dangerous ones here. A man or woman in a BASIC, pointing a Directed Gravity Weapon at her. DIGRAWs were designed for space work, but without the outside world to mess with their complex internals, they'd do fine here. On the other arm is a X-14C, a modified and enhanced Thunderhead, and the back of the armor has a miniaturized artillery piece with the firepower and range of a full-sized one. The others are blatant enhanciles, with obvious cyberlimbs and in one case a heavy full-conversion, with a synthflesh-covered face that seems to be swallowed by black hyperalloy, standing taller than a shapeshifter in warform.
Of course, a shapeshifter in warform, or hell, a half-dozen, would have been only a slight speedbump to the woman. "Stop here." she says. "Hands on your head. No funny movements, no augmentation activations, nothing. If your biometrics or neural patterns are even slightly out of bounds, we terminate your proxy here, and then we backtrace you through your firewalls and proxies and we find you and terminate you as well. Clear? First question. What are you here for?"
Jamelia nods. "I'd like to talk this out."
"Really. Jamelia Belltower, why exactly should we trust you to 'talk' instead of distributing some sort of basilisk or memetic hazard that we'll need to spend time cleaning up? We dialed in here with standard distress codes, with Iteration X tech, and nobody even asked what was going on, they just started shooting. Mixed NWO/Syndicate assets, looks like. We have no reason to trust that they aren't compromised."
"Compromised?" Jamelia plays innocent.
The woman debates telling Jamelia what she knows for a minute, concludes the vague details won't hurt. "We just escaped from Autochthonia. We believe that the Computer has subverted Union assets and are currently seeking to have us silenced. We don't know if this has happened to other Conventions, but when we were fighting Autochthonian assets, extrasolar comms did not pick up any incoming assistance or any coherent communications, so we suspect the worst. Now your turn. Tell us exactly who you are and why you're here."
Jamelia tells them:
[ ] (0.5x) The whole truth. Get them to trust you. (spend 1WP to suppress Jamelia's vice)
[ ] The truth, most of it.
[ ] Nothing. Play dumb, see what they'll tell you.
[ ] (1.5x) Sell them some lies that might convince them (regain 1 WP from Jamelia's vice)
Again, write-ins encouraged.
Willpower: 7/7
Prime Energy: 5/5
Health Levels: -0/-0/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incapacitated/Dying
Very High Pain Tolerance (reduces all wound penalties by 2).
Current Injuries: None
Current Effects:None
Paradox: 1
Soak: 8B/7L/0A (6B/6L from armor, 4/4 Armor HLs)
Dodge DV: 11/11 (+1 Dexterity from Alanson)
Shockwave Codes Used: 1
Shockwave Codes Available: UNLIMITED SANCTION
Willpower: 8/8
Prime Energy: 5/5
Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/-0/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-4/-4/Incapacitated/Dying.
Regenerates 1 Bashing/Lethal HL a round (Bionanotech integration)
Heals Aggravated damage at normal speed.
Current Injuries: None
Current Effects: None
Paradox: 4
Special Abilities:
Bionanotech Integration: Immune to all mundane diseases and poisons, does not age.
Hyperoxygenated Blood: 6/6 charges. Usable for any of the below effects.
Reroll a failed or botched Stamina roll
Add an automatic success to a single roll
Gain an extra action
Heal 2 health levels of damage
Soak: 11B/11L/3A (8B/8L from armor)
Dodge DV: 14/14
