The "Professor" looks over the photos as well.

"What do we know about the Soviets?"

Falik looks over at the "professor" as he asks his question; "Can you be a bit more specific on your question?"

"What known Russian operatives and assets are believed to be in the area, en route, or assigned to the case?" Vosper clarified for the Sergeant.

Falik nods in thanks to Vosper; "Ah yes, a good question. We have observed a number of what we assume are soldiers as they all have crew-cuts despite being dressed normally. Two others stand out in particular; a beautiful blonde woman who carries an attache case and seems to be in charge of the men, and an attractive Egyptian woman frequently seen conferring with the blonde. All the rest are men dressed pretty much the same with a typical array of body types, for soldiers that is. Assuming that they are, in fact, soldiers. They certainly act the part though they try not to."

"Do you have any pictures of them. Perhaps some of the others could identify them." The "Professor" asked. Muldoon did not like this one bit. The Egyptians and the West had come very close to war just a few years ago, and while the US had managed to act as a peacekeeper the Soviets had strengthened their relationship with the Egyptian government. There might be some in their intelligence agency who would be sympathetic to communist cause. Add to the security issues at MI6 and security on this job might be very weak indeed.

Falik pulls a few photos out of a manila envelope and places them on the table for people to look at. The pictures look to have been taken quickly and with a telephoto lens, but details are clear enough. As people look one of the people is immediately recognizable to the team members from the last mission; the blonde Soviet femme fatale Usurper, a known mind-controller. The Egyptian woman is not recognized by anyone nor are any of the civilian-dressed soldiers.

"Oh no!  Not her!!!" shrieks Oscillator, when he sees the picture of Usurper.  "She ... she ... oh no no no no..."
He puts a hand over his face, hiding his expression.

When he moves the hand, he has regained control.  "The situation has significantly worsened.
Anyone with signficant information will not be able to withhold it from HER."

Oscillator values only a few things in this world, but one treasure he prizes above all else is his mind.
And she took that from him, she controlled him ... and payback is due.  "But if we could take her out..."

"Calm down, mate, it isn't helping," Vosper said evenly, her own jaw clenched at the sight of the mind-controlling bitch from hell.

"Of course they'd send her, and it wouldn't surprise me if our mate Shroud was here as well," she mused grimly.  "All right.  Not to panic.  What's our intelligence on the extents of her abilities?  As far as we know, she can't read minds, only control them.  Not quite the same thing.  Obviously she'd need visual or audible range..."

"Actually, the best thing we could do is get there first, get the whatever it is, replace it with a smooth stone from the river, and get out without leaving a trace."

Muldoon had not run into her but he had been at the debrief and had heard the others speculate on her abilities. Muldoon was not sure the foreign nationals were cleared on what they were discussing. He hoped to calm down Ossy and change the subject>

"Perhaps there would be some way to create a device that would block her ability or at least make it harder for her to get it to function."

"But perhaps we can table that discussion and the discussion of the opposition for later."

In a surprising tone, Oscillator venomously responds, "It's been made -- it's called a gun."

Oscillator looks at the surprised faces.
"What?  She's the villain, the mind-stealer.  She is evil, not me."

Eddy stirred, and raised his head.
Blinking his eyes, he looked around and realised he bed woken in a meeting (imagine that, after going to sleep in his bed last night).

After a moment he noticed the food on the table.
Gesturing to it, he asked the gathered, "Is anyone going to eat that?"

And began pulling various plates of foodstuff towards himself.

Now, tiredness was being replaced with hunger.

Muldoon was not shocked. In fact he had the same thought himself. It was pretty clear that the Soviet operatives needed to be eliminated. Both their psyker and their teleporter presented obstacles to the mission, only their terminationcould assure success.

"I don't think we want to start down that road, except in an extreme circumstance," Vosper replied calmly to Osc.  "We start killing them; they'll repay the favor in kind.  For now it's a fencing match.  If they choose to make it a bloodbath, that's on them, but I'm not looking forward to operating in those kinds of conditions."

Nightmare speaks glibly, as if discussing what's for lunch, but says, "Besides, some of us can't afford that kind of karma. We've enough demons to face in this life, no need to ready some for the next."

"I'm just a stodgy old archeologist, I certainly don't want that kind of thing." The professor said in agreement with the sentiment of Vosper and Nightmare, even though he did not quite share their sentiment.

"Actually, I was much more of a pacifist prior to ...  Well, that is to say, I didn't have much use for a gun before, and actually I have less now -- all things considered.  But I would like to see that woman pay for what she has done."

He looks to his team.  "Ok?  So can we move on to discussing other matters?  For instance, how about we form a plan?  We could infiltrate their camp and attempt to recon their data.  Or maybe we could get an agent in there?  Or we could follow them -- I can do that without being detected, I believe.  Or we could lead them on a false chase, feed them fake leads & take them on a treasure hunt'.  And there's also the chance that they have infiltrated our team...?"

So much for science and discovery.  This was going to be tactical, as well as investigatory.

Amaranth shakes her head.  "Following them, or trying to put together what they know, isn't really the point, is it?  That just assures that we get there second."

"Yeff. Wo' shee shed", Eddy agreed, through a mouth full of chorizo omelet and baked beans.

   Onyx's eyes moved around the room, flitting from speaker to speaker.

   He didn't really have anything to add.

   He didn't want to kill nobody though. Not unless it was absolutely necessary.

Both Falik and Dr. Bin-Hassad look on as the team talks back and forth about the revelation of the mind-controller as part of the Soviet team. A couple times it looks like Falik is about to say something but then he puts his hand down. Suddenly there is a knock on the door and Falik goes over and opens it. There is a casually dressed Egyptian at the door and he is seen to whisper something to Falik who stands up straight suddenly and nods, dismissing the person.

Closing the door Falik comes back to the briefing; "Excuse me, can I have your attention please? I just received information from one of our street operatives who has been observing the Soviet embassy. Apparently just a few minutes ago the Soviet team gathered in the compound and have mounted up and headed eastwards towards the outskirts of Cairo, presumably to begin their search for the hidden temple."

"Then why are we wastin' time jawin'?" Vosper said, sitting up straight.  "We've got to beat them to it.  Let's move!"

"Yes, we should go into the desert. Possibly parallel to the other team, but definitely in the same direction. As long as we avoid them, we can watch to see if they find anything while actively searching ourselves."

"Right.  I'm ready."  Oscillator stood up.

He wasn't happy about facing a team with a mind-controller.  That was a big advantage -- she could take Poco & use him against them, or Vosper... Or himself again.  He tried not to think about it.

And then he had 'the thought'.
"Wait!  I have an idea -- if the mind controller gets you, we require a quick code word 'in the field' which immediately shows to the team whether we have fallen under her mind control!

She shouldn't know our first names -- so if there is any doubt, if one of us poses a question with a first name, like 'Why are you doing that, Eddy?', the required response would be 'whatever, Jonas'.  Get it?  Jonas if you're talking to me, that is."

He looks around.  "Is everyone agreeable to that?"

OOC:  Uh, do we know Nightmare's first name?
This message was last edited by the player at 08:09, Mon 28 Oct 2013.

"Well, I dunno if it will work for shite, because for all we know, she can do more than give us specific robotic orders.  She could tell us to 'convince your friend', for example.  I dunno.  But let's not overthink it; we can give it a bash," Vosper said as she rose, ready to go.

"Do we have transport besides our two feet?" she asked.  "I'd hope a chopper could get us there ahead of the Reds."

Then, almost as an afterthought, she said, "Oh and yeh - it's Eloise, if you lot didn't already know."