Panopticon: A Game of Posthumans, Perniciousness, Paranoia, Politics, and Plasmaguns
- Location
- The end of all things
[X] (1.5x) Attempt to convince the Void Engineers that you're on the same side? Please?
[X] Don't drop it. Keep saving it.
[X] Don't drop it. Keep saving it.
Sarpedon
Knight Errant
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] Jamelia Procedures
The Entropy/Forces/Corr and Entropy/Mind/Time Procedures as outlined above. both enhanced with Int+Tactics or whatever relevant mundane rolls. Along with possibly having Serafina run a Life 3/Corr 2 Procedure enhanced with Int+Medicine to enhance Jamelia's Dex with the suits onboard medical suite.
[X] (1.5x) Attempt to convince the Void Engineers that you're on the same side? Please?
[X] Drop Henriette on Panopticon.
FUCK THE POLICE!
The Entropy/Forces/Corr and Entropy/Mind/Time Procedures as outlined above. both enhanced with Int+Tactics or whatever relevant mundane rolls. Along with possibly having Serafina run a Life 3/Corr 2 Procedure enhanced with Int+Medicine to enhance Jamelia's Dex with the suits onboard medical suite.
[X] (1.5x) Attempt to convince the Void Engineers that you're on the same side? Please?
[X] Drop Henriette on Panopticon.
FUCK THE POLICE!
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[x] (1.5x) Attempt to convince the Void Engineers that you're on the same side? Please?
-> [x] What kind of compromised Unionist pretending to be John Kessler could send spirits to wreck shit?
[x] Don't drop it. Keep saving it.
Jamelia doesn't have any kind of confirmation that taking out robogirl will end the fighting, or even reduce it to cleanup. Suspicions, sure, but nothing hard.
Traditionally, you try to be the last one to commit reserves - and while that won't work versus the Autochthonian, we still want to be certain that sending in our Giant Robot will end the fight - Command will not be happy with us if we get the Apocalypse Canceller blown up, even if it happens after it successfully destroys our enemy's heavy assets.
-> [x] What kind of compromised Unionist pretending to be John Kessler could send spirits to wreck shit?
[x] Don't drop it. Keep saving it.
Jamelia doesn't have any kind of confirmation that taking out robogirl will end the fighting, or even reduce it to cleanup. Suspicions, sure, but nothing hard.
Traditionally, you try to be the last one to commit reserves - and while that won't work versus the Autochthonian, we still want to be certain that sending in our Giant Robot will end the fight - Command will not be happy with us if we get the Apocalypse Canceller blown up, even if it happens after it successfully destroys our enemy's heavy assets.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
I think Command would look much more favorably on us for basically saying, "Well, turns out we didn't actually need to use it - thank Allah - but there was no way of knowing that given what we thought we were facing at the time."
As opposed to, "well, we didn't actually find a threat worthy of using it against, but since we went to all that trouble of getting it warmed we thought, eh why the hell not, and deployed it for no good reason thus wasting scarce and valuable resources."
As opposed to, "well, we didn't actually find a threat worthy of using it against, but since we went to all that trouble of getting it warmed we thought, eh why the hell not, and deployed it for no good reason thus wasting scarce and valuable resources."
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Grin_Reaper
Shadow Cabal Space Pirate
- Location
- Space Battleship Pennsylvania
I like your optimism. Everybody else is arguing over when to drop the giant robot, you're like "Maybe we won't need it at all."
Insufficient enthusiasm for giant robot fighting detected. Report to the nearest re-education terminal for HITMark processing immediately.
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Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
His secret plan is to try and attack the GM by inflicting paroxysms of laughter.
[x] Jamelia Procedures
The Entropy/Forces/Corr and Entropy/Mind/Time Procedures as outlined above. both enhanced with Int+Tactics or whatever relevant mundane rolls. Along with possibly having Serafina run a Life 3/Corr 2 Procedure enhanced with Int+Medicine to enhance Jamelia's Dex with the suits onboard medical suite.
I'll second this, unless someone else comes up with better procedures, and in case MJ won't take procedures unless there in a certain format I'll write them up similar to ES's. On that note, i'd like too make sure people keep in mind the armor gives High-Reliability Construction (Prime 5 paradox reduction) which is pretty good for mitigating paradox. We could have probably risked the Accelerator System Provides For Either Short-Distance Teleports or Sustained Reference Frame Acceleration even before this happened.
[ Jamelia Entropy/Forces/Correspondence - Calling upon her decades of extensive experience in combat and conditioning from Invisible Bear, Jamelia makes sure to always hit her opponents at their weakest point and be in just the right place too not get hit by return fire. Enhance with Int+Tactics if possible.]
[Jamelia - Entropy/Mind/Time - Taking what she knows of the targets into account with Hyperpsychology probabilistic modeling, we can anticipate and predict how Gretkov and Siddarth will act in this situation so as to better isolate them from one another. Enhance with Int+Tactics if possible]
[Serafina - Life 3/ Correspondence 2 - Jailbreaking the shapeshifting system of Jamelia's MA-38 All Environment Superiority System to create a medical suite, Serafina begins applying drugs to augment Jamelia's already superhuman aim, reflexes, and agility (read: dexterity) as high as she can make them.]
The Entropy/Forces/Corr and Entropy/Mind/Time Procedures as outlined above. both enhanced with Int+Tactics or whatever relevant mundane rolls. Along with possibly having Serafina run a Life 3/Corr 2 Procedure enhanced with Int+Medicine to enhance Jamelia's Dex with the suits onboard medical suite.
I'll second this, unless someone else comes up with better procedures, and in case MJ won't take procedures unless there in a certain format I'll write them up similar to ES's. On that note, i'd like too make sure people keep in mind the armor gives High-Reliability Construction (Prime 5 paradox reduction) which is pretty good for mitigating paradox. We could have probably risked the Accelerator System Provides For Either Short-Distance Teleports or Sustained Reference Frame Acceleration even before this happened.
[ Jamelia Entropy/Forces/Correspondence - Calling upon her decades of extensive experience in combat and conditioning from Invisible Bear, Jamelia makes sure to always hit her opponents at their weakest point and be in just the right place too not get hit by return fire. Enhance with Int+Tactics if possible.]
[Jamelia - Entropy/Mind/Time - Taking what she knows of the targets into account with Hyperpsychology probabilistic modeling, we can anticipate and predict how Gretkov and Siddarth will act in this situation so as to better isolate them from one another. Enhance with Int+Tactics if possible]
[Serafina - Life 3/ Correspondence 2 - Jailbreaking the shapeshifting system of Jamelia's MA-38 All Environment Superiority System to create a medical suite, Serafina begins applying drugs to augment Jamelia's already superhuman aim, reflexes, and agility (read: dexterity) as high as she can make them.]
Is there anything we can think of that the Syndicate paradigm would allow Donald to do remotely?
On that note, we should probably try to work out how to apply his Spirit, potentially his strongest sphere, within the Syndicates' paradigm. Hopefully with(out) too many invisible hand jokes.
On that note, we should probably try to work out how to apply his Spirit, potentially his strongest sphere, within the Syndicates' paradigm. Hopefully with(out) too many invisible hand jokes.
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[Jamelia: Matter 2, Correspondence 2, used multiple times – This is a Technocratic facility, and as we saw in Molotek there's gear caches everywhere. The vampires looted a lot of them, but this is a heavily fortified place and they missed some. Jamelia will get her hands on all the explosives caches she can find along her way, and convert them into traps. Once they "exist", she can remote-detonate them with Corr + Forces, and they'll do damage as remotely detonated "real" weapons, not a Forces attack. Enhanced by Wits + Terrorism (sadly we are not in Republican dominated areas, or else Jamelia as an Arab planting explosives would be Consensual)]
[Jamelia: Mind – Self buff manipulation. It's no use trying to mind-control these enemies, because they'll be prepared for hyperpsych or RD mind control. But normal words can be plenty-effective if you're saying the right thing. Enhanced by Manipulation + Etiquette]
Director Belltower is a ghost in a museum filled with men who want her dead. Stripping a painting off the wall, she checks the cache behind it. Empty. Damn. She darts from location to location, looting caches and updating her internal map of the place. She just needs a few more things, and then she can head to the control point for the PA system. And in the meantime, she's making some calls.
"Rosario," Jamelia says. "Combat drugs. If I'll survive if I can get to medical treatment in four hours, I want them. Motor control primary. I'm passing observed files on the 'friendly fire'. If Panopticon try to call in Shockwave codes against me, block them. You've got plenty of evidence on their 'gross incompetence'. Otherwise, get Ivan talking to the Daedalians, the local Traditions, everyone. Panopticon is trying to kill me and claiming it's friendly fire. I don't want real blue-on-blue."
"Already on it," Serafina says, her voice almost as cold and flat as Jamelia's. "Ivan's in contact with the Daedalians. Iosefova says they've got Adepts and an off-target Void Engineer drop-squad linking up with them." She pauses. "Sending through dosage instructions to your suit," she says, a hint of emotion creeping through. "Jamelia, listen to me. This is an overdose. INVISIBLE BEAR means you'll not express the initial signs of the nervous system damage, but if you push yourself too hard, you'll tear your tendons from your bones."
"This suit is moving for me so I don't need my muscles so much, and I can work through the pain. Good combination. Thank you." She pauses. "If I die, operational control passes to you. Contact Command immediately and note this contingency has been established. Don't let Panopticon seize control from under us."
"I knew you'd say that," Serafina mutters. "Rosario out."
Jamelia switches channels as she silently leaps up a flight of stairs scanning the landing for hostiles. She sees nothing, and continues.
"Langley," she says flatly. "Elevate to DEAD MAN'S HANDLE. If my vitals redline, this is formal authorisation to drop on Red Square. I have IDed what appears to be the primary on-site commander of hostile forces. Lt Rajesh is taking orders from her. Orders which involve killing me. He is compromised. Subject appears to be high-level combat enhancile, capable of surviving a seeker round to the eyesocket. Relaying all information now. Belltower out."
She cuts the communications, and thus is somewhat surprised when Henriette re-contacts her ten seconds later.
"I… I know what this is," Henriette blurts out, words falling over themselves. "What this is. Not who. I… it's one of the things in my nightmares."
"What?" Jamelia says, distracted as she field-strips one of the caches left over by the original Technocrats. Explosives. Yes. She'll be able to kill the clones and robots they have with them if she lures them into traps. When you go up one vs many, your first job is to reduce it to one vs fewer. Preferably one vs zero.
"My mother… when she was killed, she was working on the next generation of hardware. Like this. DSS systems. But better. And they killed her and used her brain and her knowledge. I… I saw things like this. In Autochthonia. And the girl… she's in the nightmares too." Henriette trails off. "She's not a person," she says, voice cracking. "She's an interface terminal. A puppet for the real machine. Maybe even like a human-sized BioVARG, piloted remotely. I… I killed her. I think. But of… of course the doll wasn't her, was it?"
"It's an EDE?" Jamelia asks.
She hears Henriette swallow. "Yes," she says. "It's not… it can't be human. Even if it was made from my… from human bits."
"If it's an EDE, someone had to let it through. That kind of machine is too hard to make in Earth climates," Jamelia says, kicking down to the security office. The shallow, cover-identity "security office" which only existed so the staff here from the Masses could make PA announcements and tell people that their children were, that is, not the real security office. But what it did have was a working PA system. "Someone. Lt Rajesh. He shows up with the EDE, and I read his file. He has the skills to do it.
She pauses, setting up explosives around the door. They won't scratch proper armour like hers or what her hostile counterparts are wearing, but she can blow them to kill their underlings. And she can use this against Rajesh. Oh yes, she can use this. That idiot is breaking his precious Precepts of Damien. The Third Precept. She almost laughs. That's the same one she cited at him to justify why she was working with Reality Deviants. And he took that badly. Now he's letting Computer-serving horrors – possibly ex-human horrors – into reality.
That makes him very nearly the worst kind of traitor.
She won't use it quite yet. No, she'll save it. She wants him angry when they get close. Not thinking clearly. But she'll make a point of how he's breaking the Precepts. With her knife.
"He may be after the TransMat in the basement here," she decides. "It can carry industrial-scale objects. Would that be large enough?"
"Maybe?" Henriette says. "I… the nightmares aren't a good thing for scale. But you can move a BioVARG through a TransMat," she says more confidently.
The IBM sabotaged it, Jamelia doesn't tell Henriette, so it probably won't work. Unless the EDE can get it working again. Fuck. "He may be going there," she says. "Langley, you are in DEAD MAN'S HANDLE. I am going to try to kill Rajesh. If I die, kill the EDE's interface and level the place. If something comes through the TransMat, kill it."
"I understand," Henriette says, sounding suddenly very old. "Director. I want to say… thank you. For putting effort into helping me, rather than just… just sending me off to be mindhacked or sent back to some back-office role. Good luck."
Jamelia smiles, or rather her lips twist into an adrenaline snarl. "I don't need an office drone," she says. "I need one of the best pilots I've ever seen. And don't give up on me yet. This wouldn't be the first EDE-controlled giant robot I've had to stop. When I see you next, I'll tell you about South Africa. And if I give you the drop order, I want you here yesterday."
She cuts the connection. And takes a breath. Carefully, she ties a splice cable around the PA equipment, and boots it up. The standard universal access codes are enough to get her into this civilian gear.
Time to deploy her most dangerous weapon. Her mouth.
"Confusion to all enemies," she mutters under her breath.
The chatter of gunfire and the wail of sirens can be heard through the Moscow night. Through darkness, Lt Rajesh and his team of Loyalists sneak through the night. Hollow dinosaur skulls loom in the darkness. Gretkov holds himself in an easy pose, arrogant in his easy confidence. Siddhath and the machines, meat and otherwise, lead weapons first.
"Is the Adversary destroyed? It must be destroyed," whispers Control. "Destroy the Adversary and resolve the knot in time. This is your mission."
"I am hunting her," Sidharth thinks.
"Are you done yet, idiot?" Control adds. "No? Well, hurry up!"
There is an explosion outside, throwing light through the tall windows of the Museum.
"And so the traitors show their faces." The loudspeakers in the museum crackle to life. "Why are you acting against Command?"
"It's her," Sidharth hisses over coms. "Someone! Backtrace it!" He raises his voice. "Surrender, Belltower! You'll be treated appropriately!"
"She would be a most useful asset with appropriate penance," whispers Control in his ear, and Siddhath feels the echoes of… something. Jealous? Satisfaction? Horror? Whatever it is, it is snuffed out quickly. "Are we not generous?"
The voice over the speakers shows no acknowledgement of having heard him.
"Gretkov. Gretkov, Gretkov," it says. "I'm surprised in you. This isn't in character. Oh, not the hunting down of other loyal Technocrats for petty reasons, or because you were paid, or because of internal splits. That's perfectly in character. It's one of the many reasons your new friend holds you in contempt. You're the man they were so scared would go Nephandi that they kept your analgesics going despite everything that's happened here in Russia. You're the man the Union bribed because everyone knew you'd murder more of your superiors if they tried to act against you. You're the man who's the reason Series-P agents aren't trusted with free will any more.
"No Gretkov, what's out of character is you're usually much better at picking sides. You're a murderous vulture, but you're not stupid. What I don't get is why you'd side with a group which holds you in active contempt, and which will want to have you fixed so you're like the other Series-Ps. Men who've tried to do the same to you before have suffered... accidents. I just don't get why you'd sign on knowing that that's what they're going to do to you. So you're a little meat robot, like the clones and the HITMarks which make up the rest of your f-"
Lt Rajesh takes aim and sights on the nearest loudspeaker. A burst from his underslung rifle wrecks it. No need to waste plasma on it. "She's talkative. She'll try to turn us against each other."
"-orces. Of course, he'll say I'm just trying to turn you against him and try to silence me," the voice continues. The voice is more distant, refracted and coming from several systems. The entire tannoy system is broadcasting this, and destroying just one speaker won't do a thing. "But Gretkov, you're working with a man who wants all HITMarks to be wiped frequently so they don't develop personality and who hates that some constructs are allowed to be people as well as weapons of war. A man who would want nothing more than you to do exactly what he says, and nothing more. I don't trust you, but I trust your self-interest and... oh, did he not tell you that your new employers precise machine-like efficiency and aren't too fond of human elements like yourself? There's just the two of you and all your constructs, and he's more like a construct than a real human. Don't you feel lonely, in your little breakaway branch?"
"Deploy auditory filtering!" Siddhath snaps. "Ignore her! She's loading her messages down with hyperpsych!" He knew Belltower would try something like this, he expected this and that's why he brought only constructs and a man so murderous and sociopathic that rumour has it that he tried to join the Void Engineers post 1999 to see some 'real action' and was rejected. Not something that Director Belltower could play with by appealing to his 'better instincts' or using that weak sympathy she has for broken constructs who try to act like people.
And she's still doing it. She's somehow managing it. She's homing in on human weakness like… like Control! He winces in pain from the blasphemy of that thoughtbut it's true and rightly so as he should not think of such things.
Gretkov shoots a flat glare at him, playing with his knife. "No," he says cleanly. "She's not. Some of us can tell the difference."
"And Sidharth," the unstoppable voice says, "I am very disappointed in you. Very, very disappointed. How does it feel to be a traitor, fooling others into believing you're working for the Union? How does it feel to act against sworn pledges, to betray the Union, betray your Convention, betray humanity? Did they promise you revenge? Or maybe-"
The voice cuts out as Lt Rajesh deploys a noise cancellation field. They can't hear her any more. They're safe from her lies. Her treason.Her words cutting to the bone. If they can't hear her, they can't listen to her hyperpsych tricks. Or maybe she's using Reality Deviant mind reading. That would be another reason to kill her.
"She was always capable," Control observes. "The Adversary was beloved and fell from grace. How else could she be such a threat?"
"Where was she coming from?" he asks one of the eVictors.
"Signal traced to Security Office (Low Sec)," the eVictor reports.
"Move to cut her off!" he orders.
And Siddharth catches the look in Gretkov's eyes, and it looks downright mutinous.
[Jamelia: Mind – Self buff manipulation. It's no use trying to mind-control these enemies, because they'll be prepared for hyperpsych or RD mind control. But normal words can be plenty-effective if you're saying the right thing. Enhanced by Manipulation + Etiquette]
Director Belltower is a ghost in a museum filled with men who want her dead. Stripping a painting off the wall, she checks the cache behind it. Empty. Damn. She darts from location to location, looting caches and updating her internal map of the place. She just needs a few more things, and then she can head to the control point for the PA system. And in the meantime, she's making some calls.
"Rosario," Jamelia says. "Combat drugs. If I'll survive if I can get to medical treatment in four hours, I want them. Motor control primary. I'm passing observed files on the 'friendly fire'. If Panopticon try to call in Shockwave codes against me, block them. You've got plenty of evidence on their 'gross incompetence'. Otherwise, get Ivan talking to the Daedalians, the local Traditions, everyone. Panopticon is trying to kill me and claiming it's friendly fire. I don't want real blue-on-blue."
"Already on it," Serafina says, her voice almost as cold and flat as Jamelia's. "Ivan's in contact with the Daedalians. Iosefova says they've got Adepts and an off-target Void Engineer drop-squad linking up with them." She pauses. "Sending through dosage instructions to your suit," she says, a hint of emotion creeping through. "Jamelia, listen to me. This is an overdose. INVISIBLE BEAR means you'll not express the initial signs of the nervous system damage, but if you push yourself too hard, you'll tear your tendons from your bones."
"This suit is moving for me so I don't need my muscles so much, and I can work through the pain. Good combination. Thank you." She pauses. "If I die, operational control passes to you. Contact Command immediately and note this contingency has been established. Don't let Panopticon seize control from under us."
"I knew you'd say that," Serafina mutters. "Rosario out."
Jamelia switches channels as she silently leaps up a flight of stairs scanning the landing for hostiles. She sees nothing, and continues.
"Langley," she says flatly. "Elevate to DEAD MAN'S HANDLE. If my vitals redline, this is formal authorisation to drop on Red Square. I have IDed what appears to be the primary on-site commander of hostile forces. Lt Rajesh is taking orders from her. Orders which involve killing me. He is compromised. Subject appears to be high-level combat enhancile, capable of surviving a seeker round to the eyesocket. Relaying all information now. Belltower out."
She cuts the communications, and thus is somewhat surprised when Henriette re-contacts her ten seconds later.
"I… I know what this is," Henriette blurts out, words falling over themselves. "What this is. Not who. I… it's one of the things in my nightmares."
"What?" Jamelia says, distracted as she field-strips one of the caches left over by the original Technocrats. Explosives. Yes. She'll be able to kill the clones and robots they have with them if she lures them into traps. When you go up one vs many, your first job is to reduce it to one vs fewer. Preferably one vs zero.
"My mother… when she was killed, she was working on the next generation of hardware. Like this. DSS systems. But better. And they killed her and used her brain and her knowledge. I… I saw things like this. In Autochthonia. And the girl… she's in the nightmares too." Henriette trails off. "She's not a person," she says, voice cracking. "She's an interface terminal. A puppet for the real machine. Maybe even like a human-sized BioVARG, piloted remotely. I… I killed her. I think. But of… of course the doll wasn't her, was it?"
"It's an EDE?" Jamelia asks.
She hears Henriette swallow. "Yes," she says. "It's not… it can't be human. Even if it was made from my… from human bits."
"If it's an EDE, someone had to let it through. That kind of machine is too hard to make in Earth climates," Jamelia says, kicking down to the security office. The shallow, cover-identity "security office" which only existed so the staff here from the Masses could make PA announcements and tell people that their children were, that is, not the real security office. But what it did have was a working PA system. "Someone. Lt Rajesh. He shows up with the EDE, and I read his file. He has the skills to do it.
She pauses, setting up explosives around the door. They won't scratch proper armour like hers or what her hostile counterparts are wearing, but she can blow them to kill their underlings. And she can use this against Rajesh. Oh yes, she can use this. That idiot is breaking his precious Precepts of Damien. The Third Precept. She almost laughs. That's the same one she cited at him to justify why she was working with Reality Deviants. And he took that badly. Now he's letting Computer-serving horrors – possibly ex-human horrors – into reality.
That makes him very nearly the worst kind of traitor.
She won't use it quite yet. No, she'll save it. She wants him angry when they get close. Not thinking clearly. But she'll make a point of how he's breaking the Precepts. With her knife.
"He may be after the TransMat in the basement here," she decides. "It can carry industrial-scale objects. Would that be large enough?"
"Maybe?" Henriette says. "I… the nightmares aren't a good thing for scale. But you can move a BioVARG through a TransMat," she says more confidently.
The IBM sabotaged it, Jamelia doesn't tell Henriette, so it probably won't work. Unless the EDE can get it working again. Fuck. "He may be going there," she says. "Langley, you are in DEAD MAN'S HANDLE. I am going to try to kill Rajesh. If I die, kill the EDE's interface and level the place. If something comes through the TransMat, kill it."
"I understand," Henriette says, sounding suddenly very old. "Director. I want to say… thank you. For putting effort into helping me, rather than just… just sending me off to be mindhacked or sent back to some back-office role. Good luck."
Jamelia smiles, or rather her lips twist into an adrenaline snarl. "I don't need an office drone," she says. "I need one of the best pilots I've ever seen. And don't give up on me yet. This wouldn't be the first EDE-controlled giant robot I've had to stop. When I see you next, I'll tell you about South Africa. And if I give you the drop order, I want you here yesterday."
She cuts the connection. And takes a breath. Carefully, she ties a splice cable around the PA equipment, and boots it up. The standard universal access codes are enough to get her into this civilian gear.
Time to deploy her most dangerous weapon. Her mouth.
"Confusion to all enemies," she mutters under her breath.
...
The chatter of gunfire and the wail of sirens can be heard through the Moscow night. Through darkness, Lt Rajesh and his team of Loyalists sneak through the night. Hollow dinosaur skulls loom in the darkness. Gretkov holds himself in an easy pose, arrogant in his easy confidence. Siddhath and the machines, meat and otherwise, lead weapons first.
"Is the Adversary destroyed? It must be destroyed," whispers Control. "Destroy the Adversary and resolve the knot in time. This is your mission."
"I am hunting her," Sidharth thinks.
"Are you done yet, idiot?" Control adds. "No? Well, hurry up!"
There is an explosion outside, throwing light through the tall windows of the Museum.
"And so the traitors show their faces." The loudspeakers in the museum crackle to life. "Why are you acting against Command?"
"It's her," Sidharth hisses over coms. "Someone! Backtrace it!" He raises his voice. "Surrender, Belltower! You'll be treated appropriately!"
"She would be a most useful asset with appropriate penance," whispers Control in his ear, and Siddhath feels the echoes of… something. Jealous? Satisfaction? Horror? Whatever it is, it is snuffed out quickly. "Are we not generous?"
The voice over the speakers shows no acknowledgement of having heard him.
"Gretkov. Gretkov, Gretkov," it says. "I'm surprised in you. This isn't in character. Oh, not the hunting down of other loyal Technocrats for petty reasons, or because you were paid, or because of internal splits. That's perfectly in character. It's one of the many reasons your new friend holds you in contempt. You're the man they were so scared would go Nephandi that they kept your analgesics going despite everything that's happened here in Russia. You're the man the Union bribed because everyone knew you'd murder more of your superiors if they tried to act against you. You're the man who's the reason Series-P agents aren't trusted with free will any more.
"No Gretkov, what's out of character is you're usually much better at picking sides. You're a murderous vulture, but you're not stupid. What I don't get is why you'd side with a group which holds you in active contempt, and which will want to have you fixed so you're like the other Series-Ps. Men who've tried to do the same to you before have suffered... accidents. I just don't get why you'd sign on knowing that that's what they're going to do to you. So you're a little meat robot, like the clones and the HITMarks which make up the rest of your f-"
Lt Rajesh takes aim and sights on the nearest loudspeaker. A burst from his underslung rifle wrecks it. No need to waste plasma on it. "She's talkative. She'll try to turn us against each other."
"-orces. Of course, he'll say I'm just trying to turn you against him and try to silence me," the voice continues. The voice is more distant, refracted and coming from several systems. The entire tannoy system is broadcasting this, and destroying just one speaker won't do a thing. "But Gretkov, you're working with a man who wants all HITMarks to be wiped frequently so they don't develop personality and who hates that some constructs are allowed to be people as well as weapons of war. A man who would want nothing more than you to do exactly what he says, and nothing more. I don't trust you, but I trust your self-interest and... oh, did he not tell you that your new employers precise machine-like efficiency and aren't too fond of human elements like yourself? There's just the two of you and all your constructs, and he's more like a construct than a real human. Don't you feel lonely, in your little breakaway branch?"
"Deploy auditory filtering!" Siddhath snaps. "Ignore her! She's loading her messages down with hyperpsych!" He knew Belltower would try something like this, he expected this and that's why he brought only constructs and a man so murderous and sociopathic that rumour has it that he tried to join the Void Engineers post 1999 to see some 'real action' and was rejected. Not something that Director Belltower could play with by appealing to his 'better instincts' or using that weak sympathy she has for broken constructs who try to act like people.
And she's still doing it. She's somehow managing it. She's homing in on human weakness like… like Control! He winces in pain from the blasphemy of that thought
Gretkov shoots a flat glare at him, playing with his knife. "No," he says cleanly. "She's not. Some of us can tell the difference."
"And Sidharth," the unstoppable voice says, "I am very disappointed in you. Very, very disappointed. How does it feel to be a traitor, fooling others into believing you're working for the Union? How does it feel to act against sworn pledges, to betray the Union, betray your Convention, betray humanity? Did they promise you revenge? Or maybe-"
The voice cuts out as Lt Rajesh deploys a noise cancellation field. They can't hear her any more. They're safe from her lies. Her treason.
"She was always capable," Control observes. "The Adversary was beloved and fell from grace. How else could she be such a threat?"
"Where was she coming from?" he asks one of the eVictors.
"Signal traced to Security Office (Low Sec)," the eVictor reports.
"Move to cut her off!" he orders.
And Siddharth catches the look in Gretkov's eyes, and it looks downright mutinous.
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Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The most dangerous war-mutter in the NWO.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
Calculated dose of dopamine and serotonin to Jamelia's system, enhancing brain activity for person to person interaction.
Hmm.
Can Serafina instead go with biological warfare against the enemy?
Or are the bio-constructs, Siddharth, and Gretkov all wearing gasmasks and it wouldn't work?
Oh! What about some kind of anti-construct targeted bio-weapon? I mean, since the Progenitors make a lot of bio-warmachines, they probably have some contingencies or things that are super-effective against them.
Injections that will specifically start shutting down Bobs, Vanessas, and Victors.
Orrrr am I really off-target on that because such a contingency would be too risky to make, as it would mean putting in a vulnerability that an enemy could use it against them?
Can Serafina instead go with biological warfare against the enemy?
Or are the bio-constructs, Siddharth, and Gretkov all wearing gasmasks and it wouldn't work?
Oh! What about some kind of anti-construct targeted bio-weapon? I mean, since the Progenitors make a lot of bio-warmachines, they probably have some contingencies or things that are super-effective against them.
Injections that will specifically start shutting down Bobs, Vanessas, and Victors.
Orrrr am I really off-target on that because such a contingency would be too risky to make, as it would mean putting in a vulnerability that an enemy could use it against them?
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
I know this is RL politics snark, but uh they *are* in Russia, which has its own set of similar problems.
Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
But can Jamelia make reality believe she is Chechen?I know this is RL politics snark, but uh they *are* in Russia, which has its own set of similar problems.
(She shouldn't, because it will lead to Choristers with an Awakened tank coming after her at the worst time)
Earlier, I think a reference was made to speculation that haemophages were a autonomous RD weapon system that went rogue, on the basis that the patterns of stress avatism they displayed were similar to the ones Technocratic constructs displayed.
Now, there are always compromises within any design, and it's possible that as a highly competent but eclectic Progenitor biotech designer specialising in neurology, Serafina may have been called into consult on the design of the brain template of these. She'd know if there happened to be any mental flaws that could be exploited.
The flaw I'm thinking of, is, of course, whatever their equivalent of a vampire's fire related frenzy is. Panopticon just did the same to us to deny us the use of Achilles. It would be nice to do it right back to them.
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Y'know, politically, one of our advantages against Panopticon at the moment is that they initiated this "blue-on-blue" incident of their own accord.
Now, someone responding in kind might get less blame, but all the same I think we're better off sticking to using weapons with notably better ability to hold fire than Piero.
On the other hand, as far as we'll probably be telling Command, this isn't a Blue-on-Blue any more, these are the forces that have been compromised by the Rogue Iterators. We need to destroy them utterly to prevent them spreading their subversion. And it's all Panopticon's fault for crashing our party without being invited and so exposing valuable assets of the Technocratic Union to being stolen by traitors.
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Let me be a little more explicit.
Whatever we decide Serafina should try to use as an attack, it better be something that won't accidentally hit, say, a Void Engineer strike team that moved in at the wrong time.
Because they won't demand an apology. They'll just start shooting back.
If we hit anything that we weren't aiming for, it's going to be taken as evidence of subversion by the many various forces in the area that we'd prefer to be allied with.
If there was a Void Engineer strike team here then we wouldn't have to deploy a bioweapon against the Panopticon hit squad that's coming for us. Remember there's an avatar of Threat Null standing right outside between us and any such friendlies.
You know what else?
Yeah, the whole "biological weapon" thing is just fluff. Serafina does not have the Correspondence to hit entire teams. Moreover, because it's just fluff, so it runs up against the fact that it's actually magic and Vanessas at the very least have built-in countermagic. And worse yet, it's fluff that hurts you because standard Progenitor vaccines give you bonuses against disease.
Oh, and once she starts throwing Corr attacks in (noting that she doesn't have an easy paradigmic way to do it, unlike, say, a Verbena who could use the way that these are clones and so by having the blood from one you have the blood from all), that means people with Corr can trace her attacks back. And may I remind you we don't want people looking in Molotek because that's where we're keeping some of the IBM guys.
If they're going to start back-tracing things like that, then is it a good idea to have Jamelia talking to Serafina and have her apply buffs? They could presumably use Correspondence to trace the communications/magic there as well.
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