In reply to Xander (msg # 24):

Batallion shows up to the prescribed meetings, but is normally late.  He contributes fairly little of substance most of the time and sometimes partway through the meeting he will pop out of existence thus revealing it to be a duplicate rather than the real Batallion.

In the hallways and passages of the ship you run into Batallion often, sometimes multiple times at once.  He just seems to be everywhere.

When Xander begins to bring kegs of beer to the meetings, Batallion's attendance improves.

You seem like a decent sort, not sure why I didn't see it at first.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:26, Sun 24 Aug 2014.

In reply to Batallion (msg # 25):

Becky is never seen in the hallways, only brought in by her handler at the time of the meetings.  Whenever meetings occur during mealtime you always see her order, never see her eat.

One day after the meeting she quietly goes over to the captain and tugs on his jacket, for all of her precocious speech patterns she still is a little girl after all.  You see her whisper in his ear.

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 26):

They speak very quietly for a minute and she nods her head solemnly raises up on tip toe and lightly kisses the captain on the cheek.  She blushes furiously her whole face turning red due to her lack of pigment and she runs back to her caretaker dragging her doll behind her.  She looks back as the captain as she quietly takes the scientists hand and they walk out of the room together.

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 27):

Roughly a week before the journey's end, Captain Blaise summons the group together again off-schedule for another briefing.

"Gentlemen. Lady," he begins, as always. "It's time we started to think about your mission in terms of specifics. You've had a chance to get to know each other, seen personalities and traits in action, and have been given a rough idea of each others' capabilities in combat -- and out of combat, as well."

A series of floorplans materialize, complete with moving dots.

"This is a real-time look at the security overlay you'll be dealing with. Well, it was real-time a few weeks ago. We have no reason to believe it will be dissimilar. Have a look and tell me how you'd prefer to tackle it."

***

The schematic is quite detailed, and shows obvious entrances and exits along with cameras, turrets, and patrol routes for what looks to be three dozen guards. A garage and docking bay shows about a dozen shuttles and half that many battlesuits.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:10, Tue 26 Aug 2014.

In reply to Captain Blaise (msg # 28):

Seemingly from thin air, Flux appears over the Captain's shoulder.

"Interesting. Laser movement grids and vibration panels? This is going to be more than just a coffee and cake run."

The sentiment strikes you as odd, as does Flux's mysterious appearance. You've been trapped on a ship together for 3 months, but your relationship with Flux wouldn't show any signs of forced proximity. Sure, he's been at all the required briefings, and you've caught glimpse of him having conversations with the Captain a few times, but your personal enouncters have been few and far between, if any, and if you haven't been spending at least 2-4 hours a day in gravity altered cardio exercise, you may not have seen him at all.

"Well troops, what are your opinions?"

In reply to Flux (msg # 29):

Batallion, showing the first signs of interest since Xander's beer, leans forward and gives the schematics a close looking-at.

Xander gazes on from over JJ's shoulder. He seems focused on the cyber security countermeasures they were likely to encounter. He turns to Captain Blaine. "This is a lot of hardware for a research facility. Do you have any sense of how well-trained these folks are with their equipment?" The mechanized armor in particular was a concern, and he points them out. "I can deal with most code walls with a neural interface," Xander says, hands absently brushing the input jacks at the base of his skull. "But these battlesuits could prove particularly problematic. Any idea what models they are?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:12, Tue 26 Aug 2014.

In reply to Batallion (msg # 30):

So it appears our entire group did not really talk while traveling through space.  You literally would only see Rebecca in transport to or from the meetings and at the meetings themselves.  You know that she is remarkably intelligent and has an extremely strong will.  Many things are... off about her.  Also her doll creeps you the fuck out.

Percy take a look at this.  She places the doll on the table near the hologram.  She climbs up on a chair and then from the chair to the table and sits cross legged inspecting the hologram.  She has been wearing a hospital gown every time you have seen her and today is no exception.  She rocks back and forth biting her lip studying the project like a child watching TV.

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 32):

If you can deal with the code walls and automated security, JJ says without looking up, then I can probably think of one or two ways to nip in and pop back out again.  There's plenty of doors, but only a few are worth our time.

JJ leans back in his chair and stares at the ceiling.

All hypothetical you understand.  Just sayin'.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:10, Tue 26 Aug 2014.

In reply to Batallion (msg # 33):

"I'm not sure exactly what kind of battlesuits you'll be facing," the captain responds, though he seems quite pleased with the infiltration-in-progress clearly happening behind Battalion's eyes. "I'd imagine they began as standard-issue Braeburn tech, but recall that this is S.A.G.E. -- if they haven't upgraded them with experimental tech, I'll eat my hat. Still, it's nothing you can't handle, I'm sure. If we do this right, you won't see them at all; I intend to draw their attention far away from whatever access point you choose."

"Experimental tech?" Xander echoes, unable to conceal the sudden interest. "Yes, that would be...concerning."

"Very well. If you were able to draw the battlesuits away, could we use their hangar to stage our inflitration? What is our method of deployment? Atmospheric shuttle?"

In reply to Xander (msg # 35):

"You'll be shuttled down, yes. If you want to try the hanger bay, that's your call -- though since that's the home of their battlesuits and ships, I'd suggest a less dangerous approach, offhand."

In reply to Captain Blaise (msg # 34):

Besides, 10% of my annual bonus is the destruction of experimental non ARES based technology. If we find ourselves encountering any SAGE mechs, they'll be regrettably disappointed to be confronted by my defense of my bottom line.

And let's be real- smashing up giant robots is AWESOME.

Percy- Do you think you might be able to assist us in disorienting the local guards? Your strange ability to hear the unheard and see the unseen would be a useful catspaw if it could be projected onto others. We could disable the security without causing alarm.

Flux eyes Rebecca cautiously before shaking his head and continuing. Did I really just address a doll?

Not my preferred way of doing business, mind you, but this operation does seem to call for SOME subtlety.

If it hasn't become clear to you yet, I'll be the ground force strike leader. No one takes an action without my say so, and those that do will know a significantly more intimate relationship with the gravity of Venus, and my fists.

Turning to JJ, and pointing a finger toward a seemingly innocuous, albeit isolated and well defended (in the security measure sense) room.

We'll also need to make a pit stop here. Nothing to concern yourself about Captain, but I'll be having a discussion about our secondary mission objectives with the team once you've completed your briefing. JJ, Xander, I'll want your recommendations on incursion and extraction tactics by the time my briefing begins.

In reply to Flux (msg # 37):

Oh sure, I'll be sure to type that up for you.  JJ gives a sloppy mock salute to Flux, but doesn't bother to stand up or take his feet off the table.

I wonder what breaking into a SAGE facility will do for my rep... and my parole.  Might get me in pretty with Flux's boys, they seem to take care of their own.

JJ turns to Xander.

Meaning all possible respect and deference and whatnot to you, it's bad manners to insult he who brings you beer, but if you want to just walk into the main hangar, you can do that without me.

Xander shrugs off any offense. "It was just a thought. I wasn't sure what diversion the good Captain had in mind. I was merely expressing my opinion that recovering experimental technology could be fun and interesting. But if we don't have a way to do that safely, it's not worth risking ourselves over."

He waves a hand at the schematics. "I honestly don't care which point we pick to start our mission. *A* hangar might be useful, if there's a less-guarded secondary cargo bay or something. I'm mostly interested in avoiding casualties and excess damage. "Thief" I can live with. "Terrorist" sits less well with me. No offense to you, Captain, but I don't know you or whatever organization you represent. I certainly have no intention of killing on your behalf."

In reply to Xander (msg # 39):

Nor should you. Our goal is to maximize profit and damage, and to minimize casualty.

I believe we have a contact who has been successful in procuring us access to the SAGE dock? We're going to be posing as smugglers of questionable repute bringing some situationally procured and highly regulated material to SAGE for God know's what. Of course, we won't be giving them the material, and we'll be using the cargo dock as our beachhead, but these are simple semantic concerns.

I'm not of a mind to be a terorrist or a thief. I pride myself on being a hero and champion of my cause. I expect you to do the same.

In reply to Flux (msg # 40):

JJ raises one hand and places the other over his heart.

Big damn heroes.

In reply to Xander (msg # 39):

Rebecca speaks on Percy's behalf she sounds half out of it though

Percy is able to distract several guards at once, though each subsequent target is less reliable than the previous.  Depending on how well they are armed Percy will be able to offer us around approximately 60 seconds of distraction with potential to incapacitate several guards.


She looks at Flux while she stands on the table and jumps off into a chair and subsequently to the floor.

Many villains and evildoers envision themselves as heroes through the ages.  Remember everyone is the protagonist in their own story.  We are thieves at the moment that may change with time.

/ooc all I can think of is Handsome Jack in Borderlands 2 after talking in depth about torturing someone then killing them prodly saying "I showed them mercy, because thats what heroes do.  They are merciful!" /ooc

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 42):

Ownership little one, is in the hand of the owner. Possession is 9/10's of the law. A child of your mental aptitude is familiar with the requisite platitudes. We aren't going to be thieves. Think of us more as enterprising businessmen with a penchant for entropy. Besides, when has a corporation ever not been the hero?!

In fact, Rebecca..

(Flux pales momentarily, seemingly reacting to something done by the doll, though not apparent to the rest of you)

Should we be addressing you directly, or should we be talking to Percy? If you're going to be part of the team, we've got to communicate effectively.

That goes for all of you. I've got instructional holovids on the imperative of 3-way communication which will be required pre-mission viewing
This message was last edited by the player at 16:25, Tue 26 Aug 2014.

In reply to Flux (msg # 43):

Already watched those.  Fascinating stuff.


A duplicate appears and fetches Batallion some water.  Another two appear behind him and proceed to massage his shoulders while Batallion relaxes.

In reply to Batallion (msg # 44):

Oh? I was unaware we had a teacher's pet.

Pop Quiz Hotshot!

Tell me, what would the proper 3 way communication response be if Xander here told you he'd completed repairs on a frayed electrical conduit and was passing you the conduit to reconnect?

In reply to Flux (msg # 45):

She fixes her red eyes on Flux.

I hope that was a rhetorical question about corporations.

She straightens up to her full 4'6" and strikes a haughty pose.

You may speak to me.  Percy is very shy.

/ooc at this point you realize that while she is young not only is she very small but also acts at certain times several years younger than her age./ooc

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 46):

Any other questions, or shall we continue with the classified portion of the briefing?

In reply to Flux (msg # 47):

Hmph.  She says turning her back and walking away.

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 48):

I'd tell him to reconnect his own damned conduit.  What do I look like, a shop tech? 

JJ leans forward and clasps his hands seriously.

I certainly wouldn't want to endanger the lives of the good people here by doing something I'm unqualified to do.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:33, Tue 26 Aug 2014.