The Controller's Station
Former Alliance of Sol Prison Colony

Four days have passed since the IDA, under the authority of Commander Faust, gained control of assets located on an asteroid that orbits between Earth and Mars regularly.

Billy and his command staff have been summoned to a meeting with the commander himself, and all are expected to attend.

Unless you arrive more than 15 minutes early, Commander Faust and two subordinate officers are already seated at the conference room when you arrive. There are light pastries and hot beverages provided -- the good stuff, not the stuff served to rank-and-file in the mess hall.

Commander Faust waits until everyone has arrived, or for 15 minutes past the starting time, whichever comes first.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:41, Fri 29 July 2016.

Xander arrives promptly on time, and helps himself gratefully to hot coffee and pastries before taking a seat. After a few sips of the coffee, he pauses to add a bit of bourbon and cream. Taking another sip, he nods with satisfaction at the proportions, and leans back contentedly.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 1):

Billy enters a couple Minutes after Xander, on time but with neither urgency or military precision.  On sighting the pastries he immediately finds one with a healthy proportion of both icing and cinnamon and then proceeds to wolf it down with gusto at his seat.  Only after it's gone does it occur to him to get a drink, a cup of cream with coffee and sugar.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 3):

Rebecca startles the crap out of Faust's men by phasing through a wall shortly after they arrive, dressed in full labcoat.  She eschews the food spread and sits primly in the front by the aisle closest to Faust. She taps at her datapad writing notes to herself and politely conversing with any who make the first move towards her.  When she sees Xander and Billy she smiles and waves them over.

Oh and of course, Percy has his own seat.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:36, Fri 29 July 2016.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 4):

Battalion arrives late and in force.

Half a dozen or so Battalions and as many armed Corpsmen arrive in a horde.  Most of them take coffee and a pastry, though they aren't particularly choosy as to which.

Three Battalions take seats and kick their boots up on the table, a few lounge about the conference room and the armed guards spread themselves around the periphery to "guard" as lazily as possible.

So... when do we leave?

In reply to Batallion (msg # 5):

"Finally," Commander Faust mutters as Battalion arrives. "Sit down. All of you."

This last statement is directed at the myriad Battalion corpsmen milling about.

"Let's get to it. As you know, my name is Commander Faust. What you don't know is that I've been assigned to be your handler for the foreseeable future."

He levels his gaze at each of you in turn (though he picks a single Battalion to represent the group in this regard).

"Up to this point, Director Kelce has been rather hands-off with your operational parameters. She felt that you would benefit from having a measure of autonomy, particularly since you were acting under the supervision of Viceroy."

"That changes today. While we appreciate you successfully completing your objective in securing the ore, you recklessly endangered yourselves, IDA property, and the mission during your escape. Your actions cost us the only prototype we had of the plasma drive engine system, and resulted in Viceroy sustaining significant damage. I'm told he still hasn't recovered from the accident, which is a pity. If anyone could have rebuilt the plasma drive, it's him."

He clears his throat.

"You've made inroads at returning to our good graces by capturing this base for the IDA -- provided we can clear up a bizarre legal challenge that's cropped up -- but Director Kelce felt that you might benefit from having a more seasoned, steady hand at the wheel for a while nonetheless."

"That's where I come in."

Commander Faust motions to his subordinates, and they quickly pass out presentation packets to those gathered. Battalion is made to make do with a single copy.

"I want you to read and memorize this document. It's the IDA Agent Field Manual, packed with information about what to do when a mission goes right, what to do when it goes wrong, and how to handle a mission that has to be abandoned to preserve the fight for the next attempt. It includes regs and protocols and callsigns and fallback locations. It is your Bible, and it is the first thing normally given to new agents. I was appalled to learn that the Director did not require you to read it prior to now, but... that was her call. This is mine."

He stands and begins to walk out of the room.

"Meet back here in three days for the test. Anyone who passes it will be invited to the next mission -- a lucrative, important one. Anyone who doesn't will stay here until they manage it. And I must warn you, agents who can't pass the test get very, very good at peeling potatoes. That is all. Get to it."

With that, Commander Faust exits the room. There is no time allotted to questions.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:26, Mon 01 Aug 2016.

In reply to Commander Faust (msg # 6):

Rebecca is delighted. She takes the book and immediately begins to devour it. It is memorized backward and forward you often see her close to Faust and his men.

"Oh boy, studying," Billy remarks as he stands and stretches.  "I better get right to that, time's a waisting." He gives a vague wave to the rest of the team before walking casually out the door, his packet left on the table.

Xander glances down somewhat incredulously at the hardcopy packet. You have a digital copy of that? he asks.

In reply to Xander (msg # 9):

Xander's question is ignored, but not by everyone.

"I can digitize it as you read it... and pull it up at will, so long as we have cloud access."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:25, Mon 01 Aug 2016.

Roundabout, but that'll work, he replied, suppressing a sly grin.

Billy occupies himself with not studying.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 12):

Several copies of JJ watch the heavy manual thunk to the table.  Continued staring, no matter how rageful, does not cause it to burst into flames.

Yeah... one JJ says with a nod.  He goes back to his coffee.

Here's the problem, another version puts in, lounging even more completely than before.  The way I see it, we already did more work for the IDA than any of your 'agents', and that without wasting our time on books and homework.  I mean, if you're tellin' us we gotta go back to school, AT LEAST we should get a sexy teacher or something.

No version of Battalion make any move to pick up the book.

Xander will page through the manual just long enough to allow Sophia to digitize it for future reference.

In reply to Xander (msg # 14):


Three days pass, and the group is once again called to the conference room to take the test.

Those who arrive will find it to be exceptionally old-fashioned: a small blue booklet made of paper and a standard pencil are provided, but nothing else.

Commander Faust asks the prompts himself, orally, and there is no written version of the questions asked anywhere.

After the test is complete, the booklets are collected and Commander Faust explains that he'll be calling each of you in turn for the second half of the test, which is an spoken, one-on-one session. The third section is for practical applications and field testing, and that section is to be waived given your existing service records to-date.

OOC: I need everyone who plans on taking the test to roll their Reason and their Intuition. Add +3CS to your Reason roll if you actually read the book. Take -2CS if you never cracked the cover. If you flipped the pages and read "some" of it, take neither penalties nor bonuses to the roll.

Note also that none of these bonuses affect your Intuition roll.

If you don't show up for the test at all, let me know that too.



[CROSSROADS]
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:24, Thu 04 Aug 2016.

Upon seeing the format of the test Billy quirks an eyebrow and gives a slight chuckle at the old fashioned nature of it. During the test he seems mostly bored, writing his answers in an inelegant scrawl, but never really seeming to sweat, despite having never been seen in the same room with the manual in the past three days.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 16):

Rebecca takes the test and is seen sweating bullets. Despite pounding the book for the entire time she is seen crying by the end.

Reason 7. Fail

Intuition 7. Fail
This message was last edited by the player at 16:51, Fri 05 Aug 2016.

Xander seems to have no issues whatsoever with the written exam, but neither does he care enough to get creative with the answers.

[Reason: Success]

He seems to engage and actually begin enjoying himself, however, when it comes to the interview.

[Intuition: Success]

In reply to Xander (msg # 18):

JJ shows up for the test late and indignant.

He sighs loudly at the book and pencil.

Bit ancient here, aren't we?

For a few moments he lounges around the back of the test room, dithering between leaving and actually sitting down for the test.  Then he vanishes without a trace.

In reply to Batallion (msg # 19):

After the two phases of testing are completed, Commander Faust calls the group together once again.

"I am pleased to report that two among you, at least, thought to take this seriously. Top marks for Billy and for Xander. I am hereby designating Billy as Agent In Command for the forthcoming mission, with Xander as his second. You'll both find a little extra in your paychecks from now on. Good work."

He allows for an applause that never materializes, then presses onward.

"I'm afraid Nightmare's test was riddled with inaccuracies -- might I suggest spending more time studying, young lady, in the future? There's a good girl. Still, I appreciate that you tried... your pay will be unaffected."

His attention turns to Battalion, if he even bothered to show up.

"I can forgive failing the test, but not abandoning your duty entirely. I'd put you on KP, but then nobody would have food to eat. Instead, I'm docking your pay and changing all references of your name in our after reports -- past and future -- to 'an IDA agent' until you manage to pass the test. Don't shirk your duty again."

The display in the room swirls and changes into a star map.

"On to the next mission. It has come to our attention that SAGE has recently lost contact with one of its exploration vessels which had been sent toward the dwarf planet Ceres, which is located in an asteroid belt between Martian and Jovian space. Billy, you will lead your team back to HQ, effect repairs to the plasma drive, and set out to investigate at your earliest convenience. Take Viceroy with you for that first leg, while you're at it. He needs medical care such that can only be effected at the Factory."

He says this last part flatly, as if to imply sooner is better.

"I'll be a comm-call away if you need anything. Godspeed."