London Calling Pt. III
Zoosmell
Blind Idiot Arcana
- Location
- Kansas
[><] Satou
[><] Mouth of Truth
Just so y'all know, making decisions based purely on OOC information? Sonic sez that's noo good, and studies into the (in)effectiveness of polygraphs didn't really become a thing until the 1980s.
The decision is obvious, really.
A polygrahph test would no doubt take too long, not just due to the setup required to make one work as designed against someone capable of using magic. Purely chemical truth serum made one woozy for hours, and magic-based truth serum adds nausea and suggestibility to that. And hypnosis? Well, you've yet to meet a hypnotist that wasn't a bit of a pervert on some level. That much power over the human mind just does things to people.
You walk up to the Mouth of Truth, close your eyes, and stick your hand in.
Besides an electric tingle, nothing happens to it.
<<Excellent,>> says the Analyst, <<then we can begin. We already asked your name, but let's start with that...>>
An hour passes, give or take. There's no clock on the wall, which is probably a deliberate move. At the end, you are handed new identification papers (quick-burning, by the feel of them) and a patch with what is either a torch or a dagger on it, you aren't quite sure which. As you put the patch in a pocket, you are at last given permission to leave the room. Ethel meets you at the door.
"Ah, good, you passed. I mean, I knew you would, because I recommended you, but still. Follow me." She maintains a brisk pace through the facility, and even without being blindfolded and spun like a top at every corner, you suspect that if you weren't following her specifically you'd no doubt have gotten lost by now. Eventually, you arrive in front of a pair of expensive-looking wooden doors.
"Here's the briefing room for us in Charlie Company," she says as she pushes open the door.
While the rest of the building fulfills the 'not-quite-bombed-out-but-getting-there office' feel, the briefing room does not. Indeed, it feels less like a briefing room than it does some posh English noble's study - all warm colors, bookshelves, armchairs, couches, and maps - the only thing fully lit in the room is the maps, and there were dozens of them, all of England, France, and the Low Countries. A man sat at an enormous desk, smoking a cigar, facing away from all of you. The placard on the desk indicated him only as 'M'.
All of you, indeed - besides yourself, Ethel, and Doris, there's the woman in the red suit from before (currently smoking a cigarette), the Gurkha, the French sailor, a man in a slouch hat who looks the picture of the Australian cattleman - or would were it not for the sick-looking silver bayonet at his hip. There are others, but in the dark light they are little more than shapes. You can maybe tell that one of them is black, and that most are part of British or dominion forces, but that was about it.
M turns to face you, squashing out his cigar. He is a dignified, groomed man in his thirties, but he also bears the signs of sleepless nights on his eyes, and possesses the noticeably harshened voice of the chain smoker. His outfit consists of a refined Saville Row suit, which contrasts with the stern, used look of its owner. Even then, there is something deeply fascinating about him, buried under the tired look of a busy mission planner. His eyes still sparkle with inventiveness and a certain outspokenness, both rare things in British intelligence this early in the war.
"Ladies, gentlemen," he says as he presses a button. Several of the maps behind him rise into the ceiling, and a screen descends in their place.
"I am Lieutenant Commander Fleming of the British Navy, and Head Mission Planner, Agent Handler and Executive Manager of the special task force known as Shadow Command, or SHADOCOM. My duty is to set, monitor, and ensure the success of the mission goals which you will undertake."
"Many of you have already heard this, and most of you likely know what we are about by now, so I will move right on to it." A projector springs out from the floor, and what few lights were still on by this point shut off completely.
"This mission is sudden, but if Beckett's information is correct, which it gives every indication of being, time is of the essence. Your next mission will take place in Dover." He clicked a button, and a map of the English Channel appeared. Another click, and there was a grainy photo of zeppelin pens somewhere in France. Zeppelin sabotage?
"According to documents seized from an Abwehr agent this morning, Hitler is getting impatient, and Goering is getting desperate. The Luftwaffe has yet to gain air superiority over our RAF, and if the numbers of tonight's expected raid are correct, Goering must think he won't get another chance to gain it. He plans to throw everything he's got at us."
Click. A different angle of the zeppelin pens, this one showing dozens, more by far than had been on any raid of England barring August 13th, and even then there weren't as many zeppelins in the air as there were in that picture. Another click, and at least as many Heinkel bombers. A third, and at least as many Junkers bombers.
"Goering currently has approximately two hundred sixteen zeppelins of every type lined up in France, and enough bombers to do no small amount of damage to London even if the weather continues to cooperate with us."
Another click, this one showing the expected routes of all craft in the German's raid. "The RAF can handle the aircraft, but even with ground support they cannot deal with that many zeppelins. That is where we come in, and where Beckett's information comes in. The Abwehr agent was apparently sent to signal the commanding vessel for the first of six waves, each consisting of six flights of zeppelins. Experience shows that the wave lead has documentation identifying the commanding vessels for all other waves, as well as the leads for each flight."
Another click, this one showing the typical layout of a typical military zeppelin. "Your task is to board this zeppelin, find these documents, and relay the information to the RAF so that they may target the flight leads and hopefully break up their unit cohesion. You will be provided with heavy-duty flying carpets upon arrival in Dover in order to board the vessel, but how you go about reaching the documents, and what you do afterwards, will be left up to your commander's discretion."
He pauses, sitting back down in his chair. "I will field questions now, should they be relevant to the mission; after all, there are a few new faces among us. Name and rank, if any."
[ ] Write in questions
OOC VOTE: This subsequent vote is for your mission after the prologue. The current planned one is marked as such.
[ ] One Lion's Roar - Operation Catspaw - May 15-??, 1942. Operation to prevent German/Italian occupation of Malta, using a combination of air and naval conventional power, and a combination of submarines and sea monsters from a recently-identified base in a partially undersea cave in the Mediterranean. Due to size of the target and equipment, Charlie Company will need to take a ship. Submersible aircraft carrier provided as transport and support by the United States Navy, ID as USS Gettysburg. [This is the current planned first mission]
[ ] Run To The Hills - Operation Cossack - January 23-??, 1942. Remnants of Soviet magical community located in the Kola Peninsula. The Soviets have their hands full and have asked us to 'deal with them'. The mission is very simple. Escort the group across Finland to neutral Sweden, avoiding drawing attention from Soviet forces, and prevent something more than a potential diplomatic incident. They have obtained a number of vehicles for this purpose. The Finnish government has communicated to us that they will not intervene, however the majority of forces that far north are German, and Germany has (obviously) not done so.
[ ] Kvaðning - Operation Coalsack - April 3-??, 1942. Operation Gauntlet last year revealed possible cache of Vril-ya technology in Svalbard. Further investigations in January revealed this to be true, but Commando team sent to investigate lost under 'unknown circumstances'. Charlie Company will locate and either obtain or destroy alleged cache of Vril-ya technology consisting of both documentation and examples. German presence expected to be minimal, but something wiped out the commando team, and it wasn't coal miners.
[ ] Pillars In The Sand - Operation Crater - March 2-??, 1942. While Persia capitulated largely without incident and largely with the apparent support of its generals, not all were happy with being put back under Britain and Russia's influence. A Persian 'archaeological expedition' has entered the Rub' al Khali with a sizable amount of 'protection', some of it British, some of it Soviet, but some of it Italian. Under normal circumstances, British Intelligence would dismiss what is most likely an expedition to find Iram of the Pillars as superstitious nonsense, but this war hasn't been normal since day one now, has it?
[><] Mouth of Truth
Just so y'all know, making decisions based purely on OOC information? Sonic sez that's noo good, and studies into the (in)effectiveness of polygraphs didn't really become a thing until the 1980s.
The decision is obvious, really.
A polygrahph test would no doubt take too long, not just due to the setup required to make one work as designed against someone capable of using magic. Purely chemical truth serum made one woozy for hours, and magic-based truth serum adds nausea and suggestibility to that. And hypnosis? Well, you've yet to meet a hypnotist that wasn't a bit of a pervert on some level. That much power over the human mind just does things to people.
You walk up to the Mouth of Truth, close your eyes, and stick your hand in.
Besides an electric tingle, nothing happens to it.
<<Excellent,>> says the Analyst, <<then we can begin. We already asked your name, but let's start with that...>>
An hour passes, give or take. There's no clock on the wall, which is probably a deliberate move. At the end, you are handed new identification papers (quick-burning, by the feel of them) and a patch with what is either a torch or a dagger on it, you aren't quite sure which. As you put the patch in a pocket, you are at last given permission to leave the room. Ethel meets you at the door.
"Ah, good, you passed. I mean, I knew you would, because I recommended you, but still. Follow me." She maintains a brisk pace through the facility, and even without being blindfolded and spun like a top at every corner, you suspect that if you weren't following her specifically you'd no doubt have gotten lost by now. Eventually, you arrive in front of a pair of expensive-looking wooden doors.
"Here's the briefing room for us in Charlie Company," she says as she pushes open the door.
While the rest of the building fulfills the 'not-quite-bombed-out-but-getting-there office' feel, the briefing room does not. Indeed, it feels less like a briefing room than it does some posh English noble's study - all warm colors, bookshelves, armchairs, couches, and maps - the only thing fully lit in the room is the maps, and there were dozens of them, all of England, France, and the Low Countries. A man sat at an enormous desk, smoking a cigar, facing away from all of you. The placard on the desk indicated him only as 'M'.
All of you, indeed - besides yourself, Ethel, and Doris, there's the woman in the red suit from before (currently smoking a cigarette), the Gurkha, the French sailor, a man in a slouch hat who looks the picture of the Australian cattleman - or would were it not for the sick-looking silver bayonet at his hip. There are others, but in the dark light they are little more than shapes. You can maybe tell that one of them is black, and that most are part of British or dominion forces, but that was about it.
M turns to face you, squashing out his cigar. He is a dignified, groomed man in his thirties, but he also bears the signs of sleepless nights on his eyes, and possesses the noticeably harshened voice of the chain smoker. His outfit consists of a refined Saville Row suit, which contrasts with the stern, used look of its owner. Even then, there is something deeply fascinating about him, buried under the tired look of a busy mission planner. His eyes still sparkle with inventiveness and a certain outspokenness, both rare things in British intelligence this early in the war.
"Ladies, gentlemen," he says as he presses a button. Several of the maps behind him rise into the ceiling, and a screen descends in their place.
"I am Lieutenant Commander Fleming of the British Navy, and Head Mission Planner, Agent Handler and Executive Manager of the special task force known as Shadow Command, or SHADOCOM. My duty is to set, monitor, and ensure the success of the mission goals which you will undertake."
"Many of you have already heard this, and most of you likely know what we are about by now, so I will move right on to it." A projector springs out from the floor, and what few lights were still on by this point shut off completely.
OPERATION ROUND SHIELD: MISSION MATERIAL
"This mission is sudden, but if Beckett's information is correct, which it gives every indication of being, time is of the essence. Your next mission will take place in Dover." He clicked a button, and a map of the English Channel appeared. Another click, and there was a grainy photo of zeppelin pens somewhere in France. Zeppelin sabotage?
"According to documents seized from an Abwehr agent this morning, Hitler is getting impatient, and Goering is getting desperate. The Luftwaffe has yet to gain air superiority over our RAF, and if the numbers of tonight's expected raid are correct, Goering must think he won't get another chance to gain it. He plans to throw everything he's got at us."
Click. A different angle of the zeppelin pens, this one showing dozens, more by far than had been on any raid of England barring August 13th, and even then there weren't as many zeppelins in the air as there were in that picture. Another click, and at least as many Heinkel bombers. A third, and at least as many Junkers bombers.
"Goering currently has approximately two hundred sixteen zeppelins of every type lined up in France, and enough bombers to do no small amount of damage to London even if the weather continues to cooperate with us."
Another click, this one showing the expected routes of all craft in the German's raid. "The RAF can handle the aircraft, but even with ground support they cannot deal with that many zeppelins. That is where we come in, and where Beckett's information comes in. The Abwehr agent was apparently sent to signal the commanding vessel for the first of six waves, each consisting of six flights of zeppelins. Experience shows that the wave lead has documentation identifying the commanding vessels for all other waves, as well as the leads for each flight."
Another click, this one showing the typical layout of a typical military zeppelin. "Your task is to board this zeppelin, find these documents, and relay the information to the RAF so that they may target the flight leads and hopefully break up their unit cohesion. You will be provided with heavy-duty flying carpets upon arrival in Dover in order to board the vessel, but how you go about reaching the documents, and what you do afterwards, will be left up to your commander's discretion."
He pauses, sitting back down in his chair. "I will field questions now, should they be relevant to the mission; after all, there are a few new faces among us. Name and rank, if any."
[ ] Write in questions
OOC VOTE: This subsequent vote is for your mission after the prologue. The current planned one is marked as such.
[ ] One Lion's Roar - Operation Catspaw - May 15-??, 1942. Operation to prevent German/Italian occupation of Malta, using a combination of air and naval conventional power, and a combination of submarines and sea monsters from a recently-identified base in a partially undersea cave in the Mediterranean. Due to size of the target and equipment, Charlie Company will need to take a ship. Submersible aircraft carrier provided as transport and support by the United States Navy, ID as USS Gettysburg. [This is the current planned first mission]
[ ] Run To The Hills - Operation Cossack - January 23-??, 1942. Remnants of Soviet magical community located in the Kola Peninsula. The Soviets have their hands full and have asked us to 'deal with them'. The mission is very simple. Escort the group across Finland to neutral Sweden, avoiding drawing attention from Soviet forces, and prevent something more than a potential diplomatic incident. They have obtained a number of vehicles for this purpose. The Finnish government has communicated to us that they will not intervene, however the majority of forces that far north are German, and Germany has (obviously) not done so.
[ ] Kvaðning - Operation Coalsack - April 3-??, 1942. Operation Gauntlet last year revealed possible cache of Vril-ya technology in Svalbard. Further investigations in January revealed this to be true, but Commando team sent to investigate lost under 'unknown circumstances'. Charlie Company will locate and either obtain or destroy alleged cache of Vril-ya technology consisting of both documentation and examples. German presence expected to be minimal, but something wiped out the commando team, and it wasn't coal miners.
[ ] Pillars In The Sand - Operation Crater - March 2-??, 1942. While Persia capitulated largely without incident and largely with the apparent support of its generals, not all were happy with being put back under Britain and Russia's influence. A Persian 'archaeological expedition' has entered the Rub' al Khali with a sizable amount of 'protection', some of it British, some of it Soviet, but some of it Italian. Under normal circumstances, British Intelligence would dismiss what is most likely an expedition to find Iram of the Pillars as superstitious nonsense, but this war hasn't been normal since day one now, has it?
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