Starting with the largest historical events your teams can think of and working his way down from there, Rakesh extracts information from his prisoner like an artist slowly and methodically sketching out their creation.
"Is the current year after the millennium?" Asks Rakesh calmly, not taking his eyes off the soldier as he sits ramrod straight in his chair; the plastic flexi-cuffs tightly binding his scarred arms latched to the table sitting between them.
"400-407-0354." Replies the soldier as he loops through the same script he's been repeating for the past hours. An instant later, a flash of text appears in your HUD as the chip that Dr Albers implanted reads his true response,
<YES>
"Is it after twenty fifty?"
"Staff Sergeant Frank Poletti, DEVGRU."
<NO>
"Is it after twenty twenty-five?"
"400-407-0354."
<NO>
On and on Rakesh goes, steadily sifting through historical events ranging from World War Two to the last time the Cubs won the world series. As the answers slowly file in and your security chief works his way down the list of question, a hazy view of the situation assembles itself in your mind.
=====
It is the 23rd of September, 2008 and the world is divided in a fractious riot of nation-states. In place of the colossal Syndicates which control the globe in your universe, there exist well over a hundred independant nations organized into several major economic-military groupings who vie for influence over their regions of the world. The preeminent power in this world, at least according to your probably biased source, is the United States of America, followed by nations like China, India, and Russia.
Though the United States was brought low in your universe by Syndicate-run subversive campaigns, here the nation appears to be going strong. Not only does it have the most powerful and best equipped military in the world —you note with some concern that it spends something like three times more on its military than its closest competitor— but it also has one of the largest economies in the world and produces a vast amount of technical knowledge and other trade goods.
Though the prisoner's information became even more vague than usual on the topic of economics and trade, he did know about one company whose name kept popping up. Stark Industries. Helmed by a billionaire, genius, playboy philanthropist named Anthony Stark, Stark Industries not only provides the US military with advanced weaponry and equipment such as the kind used against your Agents, but also leads the way in fields as diverse as robotics, computing, biomedical science, and so on and so forth. While obviously less advanced than EuroCorp, you feel that it may pay to watch the company in the future.
Finally, and without much surprise on your part, you learn that terrorism is just as much a concern here as it is in your home universe. According to your unintentionally helpful prisoner, the American-led War On Terror is in its seventh year running thanks in no small part thanks to the relatively obscure organization known as the Army of the Ten Rings. Unlike other groups who have seen their power curtailed by American activities throughout the Middle East and the various 'stans, the Ten Rings have repeatedly attacked American bases, ambushed supply convoys, and destroyed villages in the region. Because of Ten Rings' boldness and growing power, it came as no surprise to you when you learned that the objective of your prisoner's mission was to capture and extract a Ten Rings lieutenant for interrogation.
=====
"Excellent work, Mhasalkar," you say to your security chief as the two of you watch from the observation room as Enforcers escort the prisoner out of the interrogation chamber and start to march him toward the nearby brig.
"How accurate do you think the report is?" You continue idly as the door smoothly slides shut behind them. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the salt-and-pepper-haired man fold his arms as a grim expression settles on his face.
"The chip is one hundred percent accurate," he says with certainty, never once looking away from the dull grey door the prisoner walked through.
Silently, you nod as ponder the possible implications on your mission for a moment before an alert drops into your HUD. With a twitch of your head, you open the smouldering orange origami flower and feel your face settle into a wan smile. The next prisoner is ready for their interrogation.
"I'll leave you to your work then," you say to your security chief as the entrance to the chamber slides open to reveal a weak-looking but nonetheless defiant man standing shoulder to shoulder with two Enforcers. As the captured soldier is lead to the desk at the centre of the room and his flexi-cuffs locked into place, Mhasalkar quietly grunts before strolling toward the entrance to the interrogation room.
As he approaches the door, he pauses for a moment and turns back to you.
"What is to be done with them afterwards?"
[] They're a security risk; terminate them peacefully.
[] Keep them onboard, they may be valuable in the future.
[] Write-in
=====
"Give me an update," you pronounce as you step through the doorway into your command centre, dismissing the multi-hued flock of reports that start to swarm toward you like starlings with a twitch of your finger.
Unlike the peaceful scenes prior to the transition, your command centre is now a bustling hive of activity as operators dash to and from their stations to confer in a mad chatter; golden chains of information strewn all throughout the air and pulsing with the brilliant light of data packets. As you breathe in the carefully recycled and cooled air, you swear that you can taste the electric scent of frenetic energy undercutting the dry and sterile nothingness and you feel your own heartbeat quicken in response.
"Our activities in Cuba have not gone unnoticed, sir," comes a familiar voice from your side as Ellie —appearing as if by magic— joins you and an instant later a report appears in your HUD, shouldering aside the others like a six hundred pound gorilla as it folds open.
"We've picked up significant radio traffic discussing our operation at the bay from what are presumably Cuban military forces. Their reports are confused for now, but they've dispatched several squads with helicopter support to investigate reports of explosions and gunfire in the area."
"Interestingly," she continues as you scan the report impassively.
<Force composition: Three to six squads travelling via various means, at least two Mi-24 Hinds. Confidence: Low.>
"The surviving US forces withdrew shortly after we detected the Cuban transmissions," continues Ellie without breaking stride, her eyes focused at some point in the middle distance as she evidently reads from an annotated version of the same report, "so intelligence is assuming that they picked them up too. We were able to track their helicopters heading north-east for several minutes, but RADAR lost them in a cloudbank before we could identify their final destination. We did pick up some radio traffic indicating that they got their target, though."
<Probable Cause: The stealth design of the helicopters, our own insertion protocols governing RADAR usage, and the RADAR absorption of the cloudbank combined to prevent useful returns. Confidence: High.>
"And the irregulars?"
With an expressive shrug, Ellie blinks as she dismisses the report and focusses her gaze on you.
"Our drone had enough fuel to watch the surviving members of the convoy scatter before it had to return to base for refuelling. Other than that, we know nothing except that they're long gone."
Okay, now what? You think to yourself
=======
OOC: Feel free to suggest other possible locations to travel to, it's your floating fortress!
Vote:
[] Strike while the iron is hot. Making contact with the Cuban government will be difficult and risky, especially since you don't have any assets operating in the region and lack pretty much all knowledge about the world, but if you can get a line to the government you may be able to engage in a little Quid Pro Quo with your prisoners...
[] Wait here for a while to let the heat die down. It'll give you a chance to further observe Cuban activities and minimize the risk of running into American air patrols when you decide to leave.
[] Reposition the RoI. You've secured valuable intelligence and poked the hornet's nest. The best move is to reposition the Return and begin work setting yourself up to exploit this world. [SELECT DESTINATION FROM BELOW]
[] Write-In
Possible destinations:
[] New York, New York, USA - Distance: 2063km (1.5 days travel). A little over a day and a half travel away from your current position, the gleaming city of New York lies waiting in the distance. If London is the financial capital of the old world, New York is the financial capital of the new, and an appropriately massive amount of money flows through it on a daily basis. Furthermore, much like London, it offers the chance to gain significant political clout thanks to the presence of major energy companies like the Roxxon corporation, though the fact that —according to your prisoners— only middling tech companies like Hammer Industries are based in the region is a downside.
[] Los Angeles, California, USA - Distance: 4298 km (3 days travel). The entertainment capital of the world and with Silicon Valley located nearby, LA should be awash in everything from money to drugs assuming nothing has changed from your own reality. According to your prisoners, it's also home to the brilliant, arrogant, genius Anthony Stark, and to several rather large Stark Industries facilities ranging from R&D labs busy designing next-generation weapons to the factory complexes that churn them out. Setting up here would grant you access to a variety of valuable targets, though the presence of multiple military bases may interfere with your ability to extract value from the region.
[] London, UK - Distance: 7147 km (5 days travel). The centre of finance for much of Europe, the city of London has the potential to be a very nice location to operate your airship from should you manage to infiltrate its powerful financial institutions and access their vast reserves of wealth. Furthermore, the short distance from London to continental Europe means that asset realisation missions could be conducted by your Agents and Enforcers close enough for you to rapidly provide support should it be needed. While Europe is hardly the engine of change that America was during roughly this same era in your own history, it is still a powerful and valuable economic bloc in its own right.
[] Write-In
